All entries for May 2013

First large narcissus flies found at Wellesbourne

We caught our first large narcissus flies of the year at Wellesbourne today.

Rosemary Collier : 31 May 2013 17:06 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Willow carrot aphids found at Wellesbourne

We also checked our carrots for willow-carrot aphids (some were captured in the Wellesbourne suction trap last week). There were 5 winged aphids in total on 3 x 0.5 metre lengths of carrot row.

Rosemary Collier : 31 May 2013 16:53 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pest update from Wellesbourne

Today we have recovered:

30 carrot flies (3 traps)

29 cabbage root fly eggs (15 plants)

36 bean seed flies (3 traps)

No moths (we have traps for silver Y moth, turnip moth, diamond-back moth).

Captures in our yellow water traps are summarised here: insects_captured_in_yellow_water_traps_located_in_swede_plots_at_warwick_crop_centre_31_may.pdf

Rosemary Collier : 31 May 2013 15:57 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Coldest spring for more than 50 years

Writing about web page http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2013/cold-spring

Lower than average temperatures over the past fortnight have helped put this spring on track to be the coldest in more than 50 years, according to early provisional statistics from the Met Office.

Rosemary Collier : 31 May 2013 10:47 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Latest information from the Rothamsted Insect Survey

Writing about web page http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/insect-survey/STAphidBulletinArchive.php?Year=2013

The latest aphid bulletin has just been released.2013webbulletin5.pdf.

• No Myzus persicae have been trapped yet.
• One Macrosiphum euphorbiae was captured at Starcross.
• Wiilow carrot aphids have been captured at Starcross, Writtle, Wellesbourne, Broom's Barn and Preston, but in relatively low numbers.

This document, prepared by the Rothamsted team, summarises information relevant to the pest aphids of field vegetables aphid_news20130531.pdf.

You can see historical and current information on aphid captures presented graphically here.

Rosemary Collier : 31 May 2013 10:44 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Cutworms

We still haven’t captured any male turnip moths in our pheromone traps at Wellesbourne. Several years ago, data on trap captures in 2005-7 were used to estimate a day-degree sum for the start of flight activity. This was 340 D^o above a base of 7^oC. The graph below shows accumulated day-degrees for these 3 years compared with accumulated day-degrees to date for 2013 (lower line in black) and shows that this year we have not hit 340 D^o yet, so perhaps shouldn’t be expecting to catch moths. This is yet another indication of the impact of a very cold spring.

In future weeks, output from the turnip moth forecast model will be found here: http://www3.syngenta.com/country/uk/en/AgronomyTools/HDCPestBulletin/Pages/HDCPestBulletin.aspx

Rosemary Collier : 30 May 2013 11:20 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lily beetles

Lily beetles are now feeding actively and presumably laying eggs in the West Midlands. The long winter does not seem to have had an adverse impact on the size of the local population.

Rosemary Collier : 30 May 2013 08:54 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Update on pests numbers at Wellesbourne

Trap captures between 24th and 28th May included:

• 231 carrot flies (3 traps)
• 25 bean seed flies
• No silver Y moths

We found 55 cabbage root fly eggs (15 plants).

Rosemary Collier : 29 May 2013 11:54 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Aphid monitoring in the UK

Aphids are pests on a wide range of agricultural, horticultural and forest crops, as a result of which there is a need to monitor their distribution and abundance in order to guide decisions on control. Several complementary systems are in place to achieve this, each differing in its scope. Information coming from these systems may sometimes appear contradictory, but there will always be an explanation for this.

The operators of three systems have decided to produce regular overviews, outlining the headline stories apparent from expert consideration of the available evidence. The overviews will provide a link to each system where more detail can found if required.

Further information and the first overview can be found here: ahdb_combined_aphid_summary_20130524.pdf

Rosemary Collier : 24 May 2013 16:59 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pest activity at Wellesbourne

Today we recovered:

• 95 carrot flies (3 traps)
• 29 cabbage root fly eggs (15 plants)
• 122 bean seed flies (3 traps)
• 4 silver y moths (2 traps)

A summary of captures in our yellow water traps is here: insects_captured_in_yellow_water_traps_located_in_swede_plots_at_warwick_crop_centre.pdf

Rosemary Collier : 24 May 2013 16:13 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem