Agriculture: Dry Beans Pest Management Guidelines

Monitoring During Pod Fill

During the period of pod fill, continue sweep net sampling for lygus bugs twice weekly. Also look at overall stand quality and use the table below and the photo identification page to help identify other pests and damage.

What the problem looks like:  Check for: Possible cause(s):
Collapsed, wilting, stunted, or dying plants Watery rot on stems, leaves, and pods; white webbing; tiny black kernels (sclerotia) stuck to infected plant; yellow flagging White mold
Yellowing leaves; red to brown discoloration inside root and stem (seen when cut open) Fusarium wilt/yellows (blackeyes)
Leaf senescence and defoliation Cut out (common beans, limas)
Rotted roots, discoloration of stem for 1 to 2 inches above soil line, rapid collapse of plant, usually under saturation or high temperatures Pythium diseases ("wilt") on established plants
"Cut out" Water stress, high heat, Fusarium root rot, Thielaviopsis (See Cut Out section)
Damaged pods Distorted pods; pitting and blemishing on seeds Stink bugs, Lygus bugs
Leaves with holes; skeletonized leaves Presence of mottled, olive-green to almost black caterpillars; or, black caterpillars with prominent yellowish stripe and several bright stripes on each side Armyworms 
Presence of green caterpillars that arch back when crawling Loopers
Presence of yellow, brownish to black caterpillars with yellow lines, covered with reddish or black hairs. Saltmarsh caterpillar
Leaves with mines Slender, winding trails or large, whitish blotches Leafminers
Leaves with spots Irregularly shaped spots bordered by a lemon-yellow ring; dead brown tissue in center of larger spots Common bacterial blight
Leaves with stippling Very fine stippling (yellow or white); fine webbing on leaf undersurface Spider mites
White stippling on upper leaf surface; tiny, dark, varnish-like spots and small, white cast skins on lower leaves Leafhoppers
Text Updated: 11/18
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