Reviewing Decision Thresholds for Pest Insect Control
By Jon Tollefson, Matt O’Neal, and Marlin Rice, Department of Entomology
Three tools need to be understood in order to make decisions regarding the control of insects found on crops: damage boundary, economic injury level, and the economic threshold. The existing values for these three variables are now being questioned with the increase value of Iowa’s row crops and the cost of controlling the pests. This article reviews the use of these tools in regards to soybean aphid control.