Soybean Aphid Egg Hatch Nearly Complete
Iowa’s most significant soybean insect pest, the soybean aphid, has host-alternating biology. Its primary host is buckthorn, an invasive shrub often found in hedgerows and roadside ditches, and its secondary host is soybean. For most of the year, soybean aphids exist as cold-hardy eggs on buckthorn branches near leaf buds. For many aphids that overwinter as an egg, hatching often happens when the host resumes spring growth. This makes biological sense because the aphids feed on phloem from actively growing tissue. If egg hatch happens too soon, they can suffer mortality from starvation.