Wheat bulb fly egg hatch takes off again after cold snap

UK - February 17, 2006

After the recent cold snap wheat bulb fly egg hatch in Eastern England is taking off again as the weather and soil temperatures warm up again, warns Dow AgroSciences’ PestWatch service. 

“The main egg hatch period will be later than in previous years, but we expect it to occur fairly rapidly over the next 7-10 days as soils warm up,” says Jim Butchart, technical services specialist with Dow AgroSciences. 

There is now evidence of plant invasion in all areas, with organic Cambridgeshire soils showing the highest levels.  There are finally signs that egg hatch and plant invasion has begun in Yorkshire.

Mr Butchart advises that control measures such as Dursban WG (chlorpyrifos) at 1.0 kg/ha are an urgent priority for crops at risk, especially struggling, backward or particularly thin crops as tiller survival will be very important.