Crop Health

Diseases Light leaf spot management should begin as soon as possible. The disease is spread upwards and outwards through the canopy by rain splash (so a high risk at the…

Pests The results of the SRUC annual survey of wheat bulb fly egg populations showed an average of 1.2 million wheat bulb fly eggs/ha, which is below the damage threshold…

Pests The change to colder and wetter weather has stopped the flight of aphids into crops. Growers need to be concerned about aphids from the green-bridge as well as any…

Slugs Slugs are a threat to all autumn sown crops under the wet conditions experienced by most crops just now. In oilseed rape, the crop needs to be protected from…

Weeds in autumn re-seeds The best start for an autumn re-seed is to have sprayed off the old sward with glyphosate to establish a sward free of perennial weeds. If…

Pests We are still finding cabbage root flies in our monitored fields of swedes. However, with the weather now turning cooler, the threat from slugs outweighs that of cabbage root…

Pre-emergence weed control Weed pressure in winter beans tends to be low due to the later sowing date when fewer weeds germinate. However, beans are sown at a very low…

Potato groundkeepers and crop health in 2021 Volunteer potatoes are a significant threat to crop health principally because they can act as a reservoir of disease inoculum (e.g. blight, Rhizoctonia,…

Pests Wheat bulb fly egg laying will be dropping off now.  Growers should identify potential fields at risk and consider an assessment of egg numbers in fields planned for wheat.…

Diseases Early fungicide sprays for phoma are not cost-effective in Scotland except in areas where the disease is prevalent, and although the disease is sometimes recorded in Scottish crops, especially…