The cold spring weather….

Spring temperatures affect the timing of arrival of pest insects in crops as most insects develop faster, and therefore reproduce more rapidly, at higher temperatures (to an upper limit). Accumulated day-degrees are a simple but effective way of describing the warmth of the spring and the graph below compares accumulated day-degrees at Wellesbourne since 2010 using a threshold temperature of 0^oC. Currently spring ‘2013’ is just a bit colder than ‘2010’, implying that pest arrivals will be ‘late’. However, if at some point we get a run of warm days then this could change the situation rapidly.

We will start to run the cabbage root fly and carrot fly forecasts for the Syngenta web site after Easter, which will give more specific information about these pests.

Rosemary Collier : 28 Mar 2013 11:59 |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem