While soybean defoliation, the most common injury to soybeans from insects, can look devastating, soybean plants can often compensate for the leaf loss. When making pest-management decisions, crucial considerations are the size of the remaining leaf canopy and the soybeans' growth stage.

UNL's Soybean Defoliation Scouting Spreadsheet (Excel®) is a valuable tool for scouting and estimating defoliation in the field.  It includes a guide to estimating loss of leaf area and a place to input estimated leaf loss from each sample. It then calculates an average defoliation loss that can be compared with the treatment thresholds provided.

For more information see these Nebraska Extension publications:

• Managing Soybean Defoliators, Nebraska Extension NebGuide G2259
• Soybean Aphid Management in Nebraska
• Soybean Aphid Speed Scouting Spreadsheet