Syngenta Pest Tracker – the sightings keep coming in

Thanks everyone for logging your sightings, over 100 Pest views logged so far. So just one week into our data collection project PestTracker and what have we learnt?

Tap here to log your sightings.

17th May 2019

The above heat maps shows the reported sightings on the 17th May 2019

23rd May 2019 One week on

At first glance there is a fairly obvious correlation between last Autumn's dry areas and this early spring hatch.

Now does that mean:

  • The Oleracea (marsh Cranefly) are more dominant in dryer areas?
  • Have these dryer areas led to a change in the lifecycle of the Crane Fly?
  • Is a lack of an alternative insecticide leading to higher populations?
  • Now we're looking for them are we seeing them?
  • Or people working in wet areas don't log cranefly sightings?

In depth studies on Crane fly life cycles in recent years have been limited so a lot of the lifecycle information that has been presented has been a crystalised to the point where insect life cycles look a lot simpler than they actually are. The reality is that these lifecycle are a little blurrier than we'd like to believe.

So what's the advice on Acelepryn application? Wait until peak hatch.

Despite this early hatch, the peak hatch will be in late August through to October period and that is your opportunity to take the maximum number of vulnerable young leatherjackets out at once. Remember we have one opportunity a year with this product - getting the most you can out of it is key. Application later in the year may mean you'll have less effective control on this current hatch but you'll have a much better chance of controlling the larger population in the autumn.

I would expect over the next couple of weeks to begin seeing the Garden chafer sightings rising, initial sightings around the south may indicate earlier hatches of garden chafer in warmer areas? Please keep logging those sightings. Just visit the Syngenta Pest Tracker page here.

Garden chafer sightings to date (24/5/19)
Garden Chafer

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