With the roll out of Bayer’s MagicTrap now in full swing United Oilseeds has been keeping a close eye on what the current Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB) pressure is like across the UK.
With 20 United Oilseeds traps already out in the field and many more member traps joining the network we’re pleased to report that pest pressure at present seems to be low, particularly when compared to some of the stories and images we were seeing last year.
"Without a doubt, we are seeing a lot less flea beetle in and around the OSR sheds so far this season than we have seen in recent years," says Leicestershire farmer and storekeeper at Welland Grain, Jeremy Farmer.
Andrew Pearcy a regular OSR grower from Tadcaster North Yorks commented: “We have seen absolutely no flea beetle at all this year. We sowed the new crop on 31 July and with a little bit of timely moisture the seed germinated within 6 days and looks completely unscathed."
Asked what he puts the lack of CSFB down to Andrew said: “The only difference that we’ve noted this year is the amount of rain we had for 6-7 months, so maybe they all drowned!”
Mr Pearcy was one of the United Oilseeds members who responded to our recent poll asking farmers what pest pressure had been like this year, and judging by the responses there is definitely low pressure at the moment. Out of all responders, 72.3% said they’d seen none or a few, or 91.3% said they’d seen none/a few/some.
Source: United Oilseeds member poll on Friday 09th August 2024
United Oilseeds Managing Director James Warner said: “The collection and transparent sharing of aggregated data, whether through MagicTrap, surveys, or anecdotal evidence, will become more and more important in our fight against CSFB. It’s certainly positive to hear that CSFB appears to be less of a problem so far this year. That’s not to say there are none, and we are still ahead of the typical migration window, but from the conversations I’m having with growers it is notably different to last year.”
Here at United Oilseeds we will continue to monitor pest pressure via the MagicTrap network, particularly over the crucial next month. We commit to sharing as much information with our members as possible to help the decision-making process on drilling dates.
The heatmap below is based on extremely low CSFB numbers, but provides an insight to the kind of reporting that the United Oilseeds MagicTrap network will be providing over the coming weeks and months.
