Pods may be clipped from the plants, or plant diseases may enter the pod from the feeding sites, causing seeds to appear shrunken, discolored, and moldy. This latter type of injury reduces seed quality. Bean leaf beetle injury to a soybean pod. Beetles injure pods by feeding on the outside layer of the soybean pod, leaving a thin layer of tissue still covering the seed. They do not eat into the developing seed.
Grasshoppers also feed on pods but they bite completely through the pod and destroy the seed.
Scout fields by walking 100 feet in from the field edge. Each field, and each variety within a field, should be scouted separately because bean leaf beetles sometimes concentrate in one variety and avoid another variety. Slide the cloth under the plants and try to keep plant disturbance to a minimum before the cloth is spread between the rows and you are ready to shake the plants. Bend the plants over the cloth, and shake them vigorously when the cloth is in place. Count the number of beetles on the cloth.