2018 - Flea beetle attacks in OSR

[Pilatus]

White mustard?

Thanks for that @Brisel.
I have just seen on Jake Freestone Twitter blog that he is writing off 34% of his rape.He is the guy that I was thinking of who is big into companion cropping. I thought he was a TFF member as is Andy Howard.
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[yellow belly]

In the 1980s we were csfb central at harvest the trailers were crawling with them Reduced rape reduced the numbers
Seed dressing helped

Now with notill plenty of debris and longer stubble last year had little damage till larvae time
Not spraying Insecticide helps a lot as predators are not reduced longer rotation
Imho it also helps that the previous rape crops are not cultivated and are covered in volunteers diluting the numbers of beetle
When any one plants game crops in the spring they get murdered as they are small 1 acre plots

 

[Cow1]

Before specific seed dressings, insecticides were thrown in with every spray pass but I don't remember ever seeing huge damage and certainly never crop failure due to CSFB.

We then had the years when we used seed dressings and saw little damage because of it.

If like us people sprayed less insecticide because seed treatments were used, how did the populations of CSFB build to the now biblical resistant levels?

 

[Flat 10]

What do the organic mob do? Spray it with garlic or chilli or something or are they not stupid enough to grow it? Stuff re-drilled on Friday is emerging today and no sign of damage this afternoon. redrilled another couple of fields today, will roll tomorrow and see what becomes of it. Hopefully the rain due tomorrow and the weekend may slow the buggers down.

@Breakthru ....

 

[yellow belly]

Before specific seed dressings, insecticides were thrown in with every spray pass but I don't remember ever seeing huge damage and certainly never crop failure due to CSFB.

We then had the years when we used seed dressings and saw little damage because of it.

If like us people sprayed less insecticide because seed treatments were used, how did the populations of CSFB build to the now biblical resistant levels?

Resistance was built up in the. 1980s due to multiple spraying every crop had insecticide all wheat and all rape

It take 4 years for benificials to recover from insecticide use
Using notill it can be cheaper to redrill with hss than build up resistance and lose crops anyway

 

[Clive]

Anyone tried AS liquid sprayed at night ? Very effective on sorting slug issues so wonder if it would sort these little buggers ?

 

[Pilatus]

Very concerning that pests eg slugs and flea beetle and some weeds eg blackgrass and cranesbill ,are from what I read on here influencing ones cropping = seriously effecting one bottom line, not good at all.
Nature always seems to be one or two steps ahead of us/ 21st century crop technology.

 

[Brisel]

These pests have adapted to modern farming methods. We must adapt our methods to overcome them.

 

[Guy Smith]

The growing of rape clearly encourages CSFB hence the M11 corridor is usually the epicentre of both UK rape growing and CSFB pressure but reading a bit of history it's clear before the 2WW before 'modern farming' the establishment of things like turnip rape was equally precarious because of CSFB.

Without effective insecticides I think the UK OSR crop will decline and we will import it from other countries where there are no plans or pressure to ban neonics.

 

[Pilatus]

These pests have adapted to modern farming methods. We must adapt our methods to overcome them.

Stating the obvious same applies weeds , so all hinges on rotations of crops as discussed on TFF.?


Bit concerning that the idea of companion cropping , that looked promising , has not been of much use this year. Back to the drawing board with that idea or is that being a bit harsh on the idea?.

 

[Pilatus]

The growing of rape clearly encourages CSFB hence the M11 corridor is usually the epicentre of both UK rape growing and CSFB pressure but reading a bit of history it's clear before the 2WW before 'modern farming' the establishment of things like turnip rape was equally precarious because of CSFB.

Without effective insecticides I think the UK OSR crop will decline and we will import it from other countries where there are no plans or pressure to ban neonics.

The above post ,reminds me of my late father telling me how his late brother who was a farm manager (this was back in the days of the cart horse ),had a problem with a certain type of beetle eating roots seedlings eg turnips swede kale, to try and deter the beetle he soaked hessian in paraffin , secured soaked hessian on a hay rake and dragged it across the soil .Whether or not the idea worked I do not know,BUT I certainly admired my uncles out of the box thinking , all those years ago.

 

[shakerator]

baling staw has made it worse,
more residue has trapped moisture protecting roots.
we havent had the rainfall events to get past cotyledon, the crop just stands there.
the completness of the first true leaves under the neonics now feels like a romantic memeory

 

[Andy Howard]

Stating the obvious same applies weeds , so all hinges on rotations of crops as discussed on TFF.?


Bit concerning that the idea of companion cropping , that looked promising , has not been of much use this year. Back to the drawing board with that idea or is that being a bit harsh on the idea?.

It not a fail safe. Studies show a saving of one INSECTICIDE, doesn't negate their need. Like all cultural control methods they have their limits. There is a lot more benefits to companion cropping rape than just CSFB though.

 

[former farmer]

The growing of rape clearly encourages CSFB hence the M11 corridor is usually the epicentre of both UK rape growing and CSFB pressure but reading a bit of history it's clear before the 2WW before 'modern farming' the establishment of things like turnip rape was equally precarious because of CSFB.

Without effective insecticides I think the UK OSR crop will decline and we will import it from other countries where there are no plans or pressure to ban neonics.

You are probably referring to the late John Cherrington's book 'On the Smell of an Oily Rag'. He recounts the problem of establishing turnips/swedes on the Hampshire Down in the thirties. Some fields were sown three or more times to get an acceptable stand!

 

[DRC]

When I was at ag college in the early 80s, we were taught the importance of crop hygiene and destroying the green bridge to help prevent disease and insect carry over.
Now the thinking is that the ground should always have something growing, ie cover crops, but is this helping ?

 

[Pilatus]

When I was at ag college in the early 80s, we were taught the importance of crop hygiene and destroying the green bridge to help prevent disease and insect carry over.
Now the thinking is that the ground should always have something growing, ie cover crops, but is this helping ?

That is a very interesting point and I well remember being taught that as well,it will be interesting to hear the views of the younger TFF members.

 

[Clive]

When I was at ag college in the early 80s, we were taught the importance of crop hygiene and destroying the green bridge to help prevent disease and insect carry over.
Now the thinking is that the ground should always have something growing, ie cover crops, but is this helping ?

I dont think anything i was told at ag college was actually correct !

the issue with CSFB is our fault - we are over used insecticides and have selected resistance


that over use of insecticide was something we were taught at a college...............

 

[SilliamWhale]

When I was at ag college in the early 80s, we were taught the importance of crop hygiene and destroying the green bridge to help prevent disease and insect carry over.
Now the thinking is that the ground should always have something growing, ie cover crops, but is this helping ?

I'm not sure about the green bridge personally. But then again I don't like brown fields either really.

 

[Billboy1]

Fallow ?

 

[Clive]

how about the idea that green bridge is also home to millions of beneficial species that predate stuff like CSFB and Slugs if we place focus on encouraging them and not making them collateral damage of prophylactic applications ?

Rather than breed resistance like we have for decades how about we focus on breading resilience into our farming systems ?

When I was at ag collage a solution to any problem could be found in a bag or bottle ...............apparently !


@dontknowanything but it very well at Growndswell this year when he said he once had a headache, does that mean its a good idea for him to take a headache tablet several times every day just to be sure he never gets another ??