All entries for March 2017

Today's trap captures

Since Friday we have captured 1 Carrot fly and 3 Orthops spp. (3 sticky traps).

In our usual 3 water yellow traps we have captured: 2 male cabbage root flies, 38 bean seed flies, 7 pollen beetles, 1 cabbage stem weevil, 1 flea beetle.

In a single trap by an oilseed rape trial we captured: 5 bean seed flies, 15 pollen beetles.

Rosemary Collier : 28 Mar 2017 16:02 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pest update 24th March

We set up 3 yellow water traps on Tuesday and checked both these and the 3 carrot fly traps today.

We captured 2 carrot flies, 1 Orthops spp. and 7 male and 3 female cabbage root flies. Once they have emerged, female cabbage root flies require about 80 day-degrees above 6°C to feed, mate and mature their eggs - so there is unlikely to be significant egg-laying for a while.

Rosemary Collier : 24 Mar 2017 17:05 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pest update for Tuesday, 21st March

Two more carrot flies on our 3 sticky traps yesterday and also quite a few pollen beetles, confirming that they are emerging from hibernation.

Rosemary Collier : 22 Mar 2017 20:11 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pest update for the week

A few more 'firsts' have happened in the last week or so:

• The 'first' diamond-back moths were captured by several moth trappers from 11th March onwards.
• The 'first' silver Y moth was captured on the Dorset coast on 16-17th March.
• The first pollen beetles were captured in the suction trap at Rothamsted on 9th March.

All of these were reported on Twitter and they are re-tweeted here: https://twitter.com/Warwickpestnews

We caught no further carrot flies last week (traps changed on 14th March) but did capture one Orthops spp. a mirid (capsid) bug that feeds on members of the carrot family https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/orthops_campestris.html and has been the subject of FV 441 in the context of the damage it can cause to celery crops.

Rosemary Collier : 19 Mar 2017 08:32 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Brassica and Potato Aphid forecasts 2017

Although we are several weeks away from any substantial pest activity in field vegetable or salad crops, the forecasting season has begun with predictions from the Rothamsted Insect Survey of the timing of aphid activity and abundance later in the year – released on 8^th March. This winter has been colder than 2015/2016, with more frosts, especially during January. However, the temperatures in January and February 2017 were still 0.5^oC higher than the long-term average throughout much of southern and eastern England, leading to expected first aphid flights about a week earlier than average. The temperatures in the north and west were nearer 1.0°C above the long term average. The general message from the Rothamsted Insect Survey is that: ‘if spring does not throw any wildly abnormal conditions at us, aphids will be flying a little earlier than normal, especially in the north and west’. The forecasts are specifically for peach–potato aphid (Myzus persicae), potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae) and cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) and further details can be found on the AHDB web site: https://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/aphidnews.

Rosemary Collier : 09 Mar 2017 13:55 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

First carrot fly of 2017

We found the first carrot fly of the year on a sticky trap yesterday. The set of 3 traps had been in place for a week and there have been traps in the field near our overwintered carrots all winter.

In 2016 we caught our first carrot fly between 23rd February and 1st March and even though we caught a few more flies in March and early April the main period of activity was at the 'normal' time - in late April and May.

Rosemary Collier : 08 Mar 2017 11:44 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem