Congratulations Amy, Adrian and Kelley, in collaboration with Dr. Ryan Haden (OSU ATI), for recently publishing a manuscript titled "Evaluation of Slug Refuge Traps in a Soybean Reduced-Tillage Cover Crop System" in the journal Insects. This manuscript focused on comparing slug monitoring methods in soybean. Slugs are frequent pests of field crops, including soybean and corn, especially in no-till fields. Because of slugs nocturnal behavior, monitoring is difficult - making trapping the preferred monitoring method. Over the years there have been a variety of traps that have been developed, though there are few direct comparisons of the different trap types. The Tilmon Lab's overall objective was to compare trapping efficiency of two types of slug refuge traps in soybeans, a traditional shingle trap and a modified shingle trap with a water-filled pitfall trap beneath it. Overall results indicated the modified shingle traps captured significantly more slugs than the traditional shingle trap, mainly due to the pitfall component (which was significantly cooler than the shingle component). As slug density decreased, this trend was most pronounced, suggesting that the modified shingle trap is a more sensitive sampling tool which may be useful in agronomic slug research. To read more about our research, click here.