Monday, June 29, 2015

Dr. Ian MacRae

Trap catches identified to 6/26

Greetings!

Getting some more traps up and running.  Aphid numbers remain low although we expect them to increase as the season moves along.

Should be getting the rest of the locations coming in soon.  If you have a trap and need assistance let us know!  Big thanks to our cooperators thus far!

Scouting for aphids in potatoes:
- Select leaves from the lower to mid canopy.  Lower, older leaves will have more established colonies and aphids prefer the balance of nutrients found here; aphids are rarely found on leaves in the upper canopy.
 - Avoid leaves on the ground or in contact with the soil.
 - In seed potatoes there is only a threshold for PLRV (10 aphids/100 leaves), reactive application of insecticides an effective control for PVY.
 - The use of feeding suppressing insecticides, such as pymetrozine (Fulfill®) or flonicamid (Beleaf®) and refined crop oils, such as Aphoil and JMS Stylet Oil, at or prior to field colonization by aphids may reduce the transmission of PVY within fields. Some other insecticides, such as clothianidin (Belay®), imidacloprid (Admire Pro® or Provado®), and spirotetramat (Movento®), have also been demonstrated to reduce the transmission of PVY.
- In table stock potatoes, a treatment threshold of 30 aphids /100 leaves should deter yield loss due to aphid feeding.