This yield loss can occur in several ways. Pods may be clipped from the plants, or fungal pathogens may enter the pod from the feeding sites, causing seeds to appear shrunken, discolored, and moldy. This injury reduces seed quality. 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.
Bean leaf beetle injury to a soybean pod. Scout fields by walking 100 feet in from the field edge. Each field, and each variety within a field, should be scouted separately. Bean leaf beetles can be shaken onto a white cloth and counted. 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.