where do they go during the day ?
Flea Beetle 2019
- Thread starter cotswold farmer 1977
- Start date
where do they go during the day ?
Christoph1945
Member
- Location
- Widnes West Cheshire
Pity you couldn't have a tractor powered turbine system and vacuumed all the little critters up (at night) into a big bag and burn em!
8kg/ha fss
average farmer
Member
- Location
- North Notts
I’ve seen quite a few that look to be coming out of the straw, not so much the stuff still attached to the soil and stood up but the bits knocked down and laying horizontal.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
They jump when disturbed so a brush to make them jump then an almighty Hoover could collect them, or a static electricity electrode.
It's noticeable here that the area that is bordered by a pine forest is least affected by beetles. Maybe the smell of pine puts them off.
I'd put my money on using a spray to disguise the rape plants by smell and maybe colour. The beetles don't attack other plants next the rape so make the rape smell like those plants, or somehow neutralise the glucosinolate aroma.
Cook them with a microwave beam?
Go over the field with a burner. slow enough to fry the beetles but fast enough to leave the rape alive.
Just about every alternative seems ineffective and much more environmentally damaging than the tiny amount of insecticide we used to have in the seed coating.
@Flat 10 , maybe if we all ploughed the rape stubbles down after harvest or burned them, it would get rid of them. I don't know enough about their habits though. Very strange how my volunteers weren't badly damaged but all my drilled crops were decimated. Even though the volunteers were thicker on the ground the shot holing was minimal.
Why do they move out if established crops on to newly emerging crops. There is a lot less plant material yet somehow they seem attacted to cotyledons.
- Location
- S E Glos
According to text books (not that the blighters have read these lately) the summer 'aestivation' between emerging and feeding on mature crops, and moving into new crops, is done in sheltered moist places such as hedgerows. Burn all these and problem sorted.@Fromebridge when the adults are undergoing aestivation (mini hibernation) late summer before the migration, where are they hiding? I vaguely imagine that they are in the trash of last year’s Osr? If that’s the case can we all reduce populations by mechanically killing them? Like with a straw Harrow or something? The old cold steel, they don’t like it up them....
Can’t possibly be that simple though can it? Probably hiding in woodland or something
- Location
- S E Glos
To the female's boudoir?
Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
They are like blasted Badgers. No sign during the day but tripping over them after dark. Hey ho.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
According to text books (not that the blighters have read these lately) the summer 'aestivation' between emerging and feeding on mature crops, and moving into new crops, is done in sheltered moist places such as hedgerows. Burn all these and problem sorted.
Not reslly my experience. The only bits I have left in one field are next to hedgerows and woodsides. I wonder if there are predators there. The stuff in the open field seems worst affected and is eaten off first. They came into the stubble turnips, but once they got a few true leaves they seemed to start moving into the newly emerging OSR. They seem to take pleasure in murdering small plants or at least seem to find them more attractive than more mature plants, so they seem to move away from areas of high biomass and moderate infestation to areas of low biomass where there are no beetles. Maybe they just move away from other beetles.
They seem more active night, so drilling later with shorter day length doesn't seem very clever, nor does corresponding slower growth. A double whammy.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Next year, if I drill at all I will drill early, that's if this year's early drillers aren't badly hit by larvae. Drill early and hope a huge vigorous plant can withstand the larvae. Would seem to be a better plan than drilling late growing too slowly to withstand grazing or larvae, or slugs or pigeons and not getting enough ground cover to keep the weeds down.
- Location
- Lincs / Cambs border
I went to broadcast some seed on a thin bit of OSR on Friday but it didn’t get done because my wheel fell off !
Try to succeed
Member
The larvae are well established in the volunteers. I’m adding this one to my growing tally! (Warning to early drillers)
ZXR17
Member
- Location
- South Dorset
snipe
Member
- Location
- west yorkshire
First pic was drilled 13 of august. 10kg/ha With 50 litre/ha of fert, thought I’d done a fantastic job of beating the csfb and pigeons. But now when I pull a root up most have larvae as in the second picture
The third picture is where I started drilling again once we had cleared the hay 30th of August, was a bit touch and go to start but looks ok now. Will be interesting to see how the different drilling dates affect the larvae
All drilled with a flat lift dropped seed behind packer, direct into barley stubble or burnt off grass. Not used any insecticide this year as did not help last year. Last year harvested 65 ac out of 110. This year 70ac established(not guarantee to harvest) out of 70.
The third picture is where I started drilling again once we had cleared the hay 30th of August, was a bit touch and go to start but looks ok now. Will be interesting to see how the different drilling dates affect the larvae
All drilled with a flat lift dropped seed behind packer, direct into barley stubble or burnt off grass. Not used any insecticide this year as did not help last year. Last year harvested 65 ac out of 110. This year 70ac established(not guarantee to harvest) out of 70.
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Can you dig out some of the larvae in the roots please and post a picture? CSFB live in the stems above ground, not below it. What you're describing sounds more like cabbage root fly.
CSFB larvae
snipe
Member
- Location
- west yorkshire
Yes it is cabbage root fly larvae, never had it before as never drill so early, what sort of damage can I expect???
An early drilled crop, which this year should be well established but could have very high CSFB egg numbers in the soil. In this scenario has anyone tried a light cultivation or rolling to destroy the eggs or at least expose them to the weather or predators?
