Slug Monitoring Summary

Starting in early April, 15 Ohio counties monitored 17 soybean fields for slugs as part of a multi-state project funded by the United Soybean Board. The objective of the study is to help us better understand variation in slug pressure in our region. To monitor for slugs, shingle traps were placed in 6 locations within each field (Figure 1) to monitor for weekly slug activity 3 weeks before soybeans were planted and 6 weeks after soybeans were planted, for a total of 9 weeks of monitoring. To monitor a shingle trap, the trap is lifted and the total number of slugs underneath the trap was recorded. Depending on the county, monitoring took place anywhere from April 8^th through July 8^th, 2024. Below you will find a short summary of our findings.

Slug Monitoring Summary
We would like to thank all of the participating counties for their assistance with monitoring slugs in Ohio! Overall, we monitored a total of 15 counties (for a total of 17 fields, both Knox and Wayne counties monitored 2 fields each). Monitoring took place from 4/8/2024 – 7/5/2024, depending on the county monitoring. Planting took place between 4/24/2024 through 6/4/2024, depending on the county. When all of the data was pooled together, we observed the highest average number of slugs the week of May 27^th, which resulted in an average of 9.93 slugs (Figure 2). Seneca county reported the highest average number of slugs within 1 week, with an average of 10.2 slugs/shingle the week of June 28^th (during a period of mild conditions with increased moisture), followed by Wayne county with an average of 9.2 slugs/shingle, which was observed 5 days after planting occurred (Table 1). Unfortunately, we do not have a threshold recommendation for how many slugs is too many under a shingle trap; however data from this research project will allow us to better understand slug population trends and continue to work towards determining the best management practices for slugs within Ohio and the region.

Figure 3. Average number of slugs pooled from across the monitoring counties, by date. Dates range from April 8th, 2024 - July 8th, 2024.

Table 1. Highest average number of slugs observed for each monitoring county in Ohio, the dates the high was observed and the planting date of the field that was monitored.