Sawtoothed grain beetle

[IanCB]

These insects are known as SPI (Stored Product Insects). They only survive and come from the store. I believe that everyone that stores grain has a very low level of these insects. So low that in normal situations they are not detected and your usual yearly processes of cleaning your store, treating your store, cooling your grain, and out loading your grain yearly are all factors that keep these insects numbers to levels that are not a problem because they are so low that you cannot detect them. If something changes for example you carry grain over for a season or you don't cool your grain then these insects can get a foot hold and numbers increase to levels that can be detected and this now becomes a problem.

 

[IanCB]

These insects are known as SPI (Stored Product Insects). They only survive and come from the store. I believe that everyone that stores grain has a very low level of these insects. So low that in normal situations they are not detected and your usual yearly processes of cleaning your store, treating your store, cooling your grain, and out loading your grain yearly are all factors that keep these insects numbers to levels that are not a problem because they are so low that you cannot detect them. If something changes for example you carry grain over for a season or you don't cool your grain then these insects can get a foot hold and numbers increase to levels that can be detected and this now becomes a problem.

 

[Brisel]

You've had the perfect home for them every year apart from just before harvest when you clean them out for a few weeks. Not hard to see why they crawl into a crevice and have a little sleep for those few weeks.

My stores get cleaned as soon as they are emptied so the critters are hungry for longer. Add in decent cooling systems and you make their lives a misery.

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

In a shed, your only option is to sheet the heap and treat with Aluminium Phosphine gas. The heap would be sealed for 21 days.

You can get a load rejected for "presence of live or dead insects" so some sort of cleaning would be a good idea if your premium justifies the cost.

 

[David.]

Don't know where OP sent oats to, but some of ours were rejected for sawtooths before the lorry had even arrived at Bedford last year

 

[MrNoo]

Had them in the last of the heap of my SB, just put the lot through the seed cleaner nice and steady, shook the buggers out, no rejections in the 4 loads I sent yesterday (for bugs anyway, had a £1-50/t for one load at 15.3% mind)
One load to go then I shall be treating the shed etc, we have suffered bugs every year since they banned us from using Actelic dust despite rigorous pre harvest cleaning, temp monitoring etc etc

 

[JCfarmer]

I have sent 3 loads of sp malting barley all going through fine but with an 84p reduction for moisture over 14.5% to 15%. 4th load however was rejected for grain beetle, pisssed me off to say the least and cost £40t. Looked in one small heap and found a grain beetle 50% of the time and all dead, the main heap I couldn't find any. It will all go through the dryer and with the cleaning grill in the centre of the dryer I'm hoping it will take any out?(had the blanking plate in till now) Not got a proper cleaner but nearly bought one off here. Might have to one day.

 

[David.]

I have sent 3 loads of sp malting barley all going through fine but with an 84p reduction for moisture over 14.5% to 15%. 4th load however was rejected for flea beetle, pisssed me off to say the least and cost £40t. Looked in one small heap and found a flea beetle 50% of the time and all dead, the main heap I couldn't find any. It will all go through the dryer and with the cleaning grill in the centre of the dryer I'm hoping it will take any out?(had the blanking plate in till now) Not got a proper cleaner but nearly bought one off here. Might have to one day.

Are they a problem then?

 

[JCfarmer]

Are they a problem then?

My mistake, grain beetle and edited now. Thanks Dave

 

[Surgery]

I have sent 3 loads of sp malting barley all going through fine but with an 84p reduction for moisture over 14.5% to 15%. 4th load however was rejected for grain beetle, pisssed me off to say the least and cost £40t. Looked in one small heap and found a flea beetle 50% of the time and all dead, the main heap I couldn't find any. It will all go through the dryer and with the cleaning grill in the centre of the dryer I'm hoping it will take any out?(had the blanking plate in till now) Not got a proper cleaner but nearly bought one off here. Might have to one day.

I very much doubt that they are dead if you have not treated the stack of grain. Put you hand in the grain and shake off leaving the bugs on your hand , in a small time the warmth from your hand if the grain is cool should wake the Beatles up , another thing to do is have a heat source and place them over it as they do when it's being sampled at the mills etc.

As mentioned on here we do fumigate grain in the area and you will only find dead bugs after treatment , yes you can get rejections via dead bugs , it's something we have not heard of after we have treated it , but after treatment moving the grain in most cases brakes them down as they decompose quickly and really if you have a clearance certificate , as required , you should not get rejected off the back of dead bugs.

The trouble is if you get a rejection there are stores which will treat these loads but at roughly £10-12 a ton to do so plus associated handling fees and haulage at roughly £10 there and back you are looking at the think end of £600-700 for 29 ton , if you sheds are easy to fumigate this in effect could treat 200 plus ton with the added bonus of having a good kill in the fabric of your barn.

Edit I am on about grain Beatle not flea Beatle !!

 

[yellow belly]

if you have got the load back first check it carefully to see how many you have sample on a white piece of paper
if you cannot find any there may be low numbers you can clean the grain that will get most out

keep grain cool they will move to the warmest part of the store

if you have a mobile dryer give them an hour that will give them a headache especially on a cold day

Shed is nearly empty is it worth fumigating empty shed to kill them all?

if shed empty clean out with vacuum cleaner especially nooks and crannys blow drying floors out
the problem with smoke bombs they do not get into the crannys
I am not very keen on any of the chemicals that are in smoke bombs so rely on cleaning out with a vaccume cleaner mites and some beetles are resistant to many of the chemicals any way

get grain down to a low temperature very few beetles can breed at under 10c

 

[Brisel]

I very much doubt that they are dead if you have not treated the stack of grain. Put you hand in the grain and shake off leaving the bugs on your hand , in a small time the warmth from your hand if the grain is cool should wake the Beatles up , another thing to do is have a heat source and place them over it as they do when it's being sampled at the mills etc.

As mentioned on here we do fumigate grain in the area and you will only find dead bugs after treatment , yes you can get rejections via dead bugs , it's something we have not heard of after we have treated it , but after treatment moving the grain in most cases brakes them down as they decompose quickly and really if you have a clearance certificate , as required , you should not get rejected off the back of dead bugs.

The trouble is if you get a rejection there are stores which will treat these loads but at roughly £10-12 a ton to do so plus associated handling fees and haulage at roughly £10 there and back you are looking at the think end of £600-700 for 29 ton , if you sheds are easy to fumigate this in effect could treat 200 plus ton with the added bonus of having a good kill in the fabric of your barn.

Edit I am on about grain Beatle not flea Beatle !!

Love autocorrect - which Beatles? John, Paul, Ringo or George?

 

[Surgery]

Love autocorrect - which Beatles? John, Paul, Ringo or George?

It's done it again !!

 

[MattR]

Just come across this thread searching for grain weevil/beetle. Have a 100t ish heap of wheat with a patch that has an insect infestation. I hadn't actually realised that fumigating in the heap was an option - was thinking along the lines of augering it around and treating it with reldan/k-obial or something. Is it pretty effective (fumigating in-situ)? Can I do it myself or does it have to be done by a contractor?

 

[Steevo]

Just come across this thread searching for grain weevil/beetle. Have a 100t ish heap of wheat with a patch that has an insect infestation. I hadn't actually realised that fumigating in the heap was an option - was thinking along the lines of augering it around and treating it with reldan/k-obial or something. Is it pretty effective (fumigating in-situ)? Can I do it myself or does it have to be done by a contractor?

Where is it stored? If in a metal or concrete panel store then yes it works well. Much more effective and cheaper done in situ than applying insecticide through an auger or such.

You'd need to do a course to DIY which I'm sure isn't cheap - you couldn't buy the gas pellets without certification. Contractors are pretty reasonably priced and do the job well and quickly. Done right it's perfectly safe.....yet you need to know what you're doing as the gas could prove fatal. Not something I'd fancy doing DIY without some good trainng.

 

[snipe]

If you can cool the grain it should sort the problem for now. Get some drain pipe, cut lots of slits in the bottom meter of it with an angle grinder. Then push it into the grain, sucking out the middle with a Hoover as it goes in. Measure the pipe and grain height and stop pushing pipe in when it is a few inch off the floor. Then put some pedestal fans on the top. put theses about 10ft apart, should sort the problem.

 

[MattR]

Where is it stored? If in a metal or concrete panel store then yes it works well. Much more effective and cheaper done in situ than applying insecticide through an auger or such.

You'd need to do a course to DIY which I'm sure isn't cheap - you couldn't buy the gas pellets without certification. Contractors are pretty reasonably priced and do the job well and quickly. Done right it's perfectly safe.....yet you need to know what you're doing as the gas could prove fatal. Not something I'd fancy doing DIY without some good trainng.

Its a sort of elongated bin, galvanise two sides and concrete two sides. Anyone know of any such contractors in the south west? The only ones I can find googling it are in Oxon and the east.

If you can cool the grain it should sort the problem for now. Get some drain pipe, cut lots of slits in the bottom meter of it with an angle grinder. Then push it into the grain, sucking out the middle with a Hoover as it goes in. Measure the pipe and grain height and stop pushing pipe in when it is a few inch off the floor. Then put some pedestal fans on the top. put theses about 10ft apart, should sort the problem.

Yes the store has aeriation and hopefully it's keeping the problem at bay but we haven't had many really cold nights yet to really get the temp down

 

[Brisel]

Speak to Jim Farquharson at B&W Grainstores https://www.bwgrainstore.com/ He does store fumigation from his base in East Dorset. If not, he will know someone closer to you.

 

[Steevo]

Its a sort of elongated bin, galvanise two sides and concrete two sides. Anyone know of any such contractors in the south west? The only ones I can find googling it are in Oxon and the east.

Is concrete panels or blocks? Panels are safe but I think blocks are porous and let the gas out. Same as wood will do.

Most contractors travel nationwide - boats, bunker bins etc.

 

[MattR]

Is concrete panels or blocks? Panels are safe but I think blocks are porous and let the gas out. Same as wood will do.

Most contractors travel nationwide - boats, bunker bins etc.

Ah. Blocks. Some of the side is below ground level though. Also one part of it has some boards across but I guess maybe that could be sealed the same as the top