Flea Beetle 2019

[Renaultman]

I totally agree with that comment, I have been saying for a while , Did they Work?? Did I dream this but there was an area given a derogation to use neonics the year after the official ban and the results were not good?? Help!!

I ordered Seed without neonic 2 years before it was banned. It resulted in one extra spray pass and a lot of worry. I'm not convinced that having then back would solve all our problems but in the same breath I hate spraying insecticide.

 

[Clive]

There is at present no alternative to" Feet in Fields" , I do agree things will change, but monitoring systems still need people who understand the desired end result to set standards.

Agree 100%

The tech is not there or good enough yet - give it 10 yrs however !

 

[Scrambler]

Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
The beetles ar back with a vengeance. After the rain at the weekend my osr looked a lot better and I felt like it would make a crop, but walking it today it's in tatters. There's loads of csfb.
I sprayed insecticide 9 days ago. I don't know wether to spray it again or just give up on it.

 

[richard hammond]

I ordered Seed without neonic 2 years before it was banned. It resulted in one extra spray pass and a lot of worry. I'm not convinced that having then back would solve all our problems but in the same breath I hate spraying insecticide.

I hate insecticides "BUT" I feel we only need them once in a rotation of arable crop, loads of people will disagree but just use them for CSFB and nothing else and hey presto they seem to work a little bit,

 

[Green oak]

I think neo-nic gave the rape grower a couple of weeks grace. Just about time to get to 1 true leaf. A follow up spray nailed the flea beetle what had been munching away. Now it’s a attack on emergence. And crop lost if luck is not on your side. In east Anglia.

 

[Scrambler]

Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
The beetles ar back with a vengeance. After the rain at the weekend my osr looked a lot better and I felt like it would make a crop, but walking it today it's in tatters. There's loads of csfb.
I sprayed insecticide 9 days ago. I don't know wether to spray it again or just give up on it.

 

[richard hammond]

Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
The beetles ar back with a vengeance. After the rain at the weekend my osr looked a lot better and I felt like it would make a crop, but walking it today it's in tatters. There's loads of csfb.
I sprayed insecticide 9 days ago. I don't know wether to spray it again or just give up on it.

If you use lots of insecticides within your rotation then give up on it!! and see what happens,,you might be surprised.

 

[Brisel]

That's fine in isolation, but CSFB fly in swarms from further away. One grower not using insecticides who is surrounded by those who use them a lot doesn't really stand much chance.

 

[average farmer]

Never spayed for csfb before last year, have had a couple of lost crops but haven’t used dress seed for about 10 years apart from the bought in stuff.

Sprayed it twice this year already.

 

[richard hammond]

That's fine in isolation, but CSFB fly in swarms from further away. One grower not using insecticides who is surrounded by those who use them a lot doesn't really stand much chance.

Then use your local knowledge to sort your crop rotation accordingly, it really is that simple, or keep drilling a crop that is likely to fail, make up your own mind!!

 

[teslacoils]

Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
The beetles ar back with a vengeance. After the rain at the weekend my osr looked a lot better and I felt like it would make a crop, but walking it today it's in tatters. There's loads of csfb.
I sprayed insecticide 9 days ago. I don't know wether to spray it again or just give up on it.

Spray it. Spend a fiver now to give it a chance. Otherwise you will wish you had done it, even if you pull the plug in a month.

 

[average farmer]

Then use your local knowledge to sort your crop rotation accordingly, it really is that simple, or keep drilling a crop that is likely to fail, make up your own mind!!

How far can they fly ?

 

[Oscar]

Just come in from looking and I ve got a strange thing to report which I can t understand myself !
OSR drilled by DTS straight into stubbles, double rolled pre em of Surtaki .
In one field , contractor did not know ,but the 6 inch flexible pipe joining the distributor head to the air/seed delivery pipe pulled off on a join and so the seed was blown out pipe hitting drill parts and effectively broadcast in a 1.5 m wide strip. Luckily it was on his final headland pass
(on osr he drills headlands first) and also double luck , my agronomist happened to come to field for a look and stopped him. Anyhow sorted problem and he made sure he drilled through his last pass as he did not know when it happened.
Now the crop is up, what is strange is that it seems every seed grew as it's so thick, but there is less than 1% damage from csfb but a metre away and the rest of the field is about 20% damage ?! Also , despite not being drilled, no sign of any bleaching of leaves from pre em( meant to be 15mm on label) but around poles where I must have over lapped, there is a bit of bleaching.
Can t really explain it myself but where its thick the tape seems to be growing faster like it's trying to outgrow each other in a competition.

 

[Flat 10]

I hate insecticides "BUT" I feel we only need them once in a rotation of arable crop, loads of people will disagree but just use them for CSFB and nothing else and hey presto they seem to work a little bit,

I'm trying to do this. I am worried about BYDV though, especially on WB.

 

[Zippy768]

Just come in from looking and I ve got a strange thing to report which I can t understand myself !
OSR drilled by DTS straight into stubbles, double rolled pre em of Surtaki .
In one field , contractor did not know ,but the 6 inch flexible pipe joining the distributor head to the air/seed delivery pipe pulled off on a join and so the seed was blown out pipe hitting drill parts and effectively broadcast in a 1.5 m wide strip. Luckily it was on his final headland pass
(on osr he drills headlands first) and also double luck , my agronomist happened to come to field for a look and stopped him. Anyhow sorted problem and he made sure he drilled through his last pass as he did not know when it happened.
Now the crop is up, what is strange is that it seems every seed grew as it's so thick, but there is less than 1% damage from csfb but a metre away and the rest of the field is about 20% damage ?! Also , despite not being drilled, no sign of any bleaching of leaves from pre em( meant to be 15mm on label) but around poles where I must have over lapped, there is a bit of bleaching.
Can t really explain it myself but where its thick the tape seems to be growing faster like it's trying to outgrow each other in a competition.

Similar tale here. I doubled drilled some outside passes on some headlands as it was a little trashy. Effectively 10kg/hectare one would get a full crop; 5kg/hectare one gets a write off.
I put it down to simply same beetle numbers over a larger number of plants.

Anyhoo 60 acres written off now - the full area

 

[Oscar]

Sorry to hear about your rape so not going to like your post @Zippy768 !

 

[Will 1594]

Hopefully out off the woods now , just have to keep deer pidgin and hares off it

 

[Try to succeed]

I always thought rain is as good at stopping flea beetle as spraying them is. Turns out it isn’t stopping them at all; was out till 2.30 this morning on the later drilled stuff. It was the highest pressure I’ve ever seen. 7 beetles per plant. Did anyone else notice this increase in numbers the last couple of days?

 

[richard hammond]

I'm trying to do this. I am worried about BYDV though, especially on WB.

I have farmers who have not used insecticides on cereals in Lincolnshire for upto 10 years with no adverse problems, but please be careful of Sycamore trees that seem to harbour high populations of the little buggers!(aphids)

 

[robbie]

Same here. I sprayed last week hoping to hold the beetle back until the rain arrives over the weekend and after the rain I was finding sometimes 3 per plant pre rain it was one 1 per plant.