Bayer Pollen Beetle Predictor is showing that pollen beetle migration has now begun in the South of the country.
On the ‘migration start’ map the Wimborne, Dorset and Newport, Isle of Wight met stations had turned red by the end of February indicating that migration had started. The Swansea station showed migration started on 6th March and over the weekend nine met staions on an East/West line from Glastonbury, Somerset to Ashford, Kent turned yellow indicating migration expected to start early this week.
Bayer’s Agri Services manager Nathan Whitehouse encourages growers to start making use of this free-of-charge decision support tool now. “It only takes a few moments to check the map and it can save hours of time in field monitoring. When your nearest met station turns red it’s time to start keeping a daily watch on the ‘new migration’ and ‘percent migration’ maps.”
The ‘new migration’ map shows when conditions favour migration. When your nearest met station has been yellow (good migration conditions) for three consecutive days or red (optimum migration conditions) for just one day, it’s time to get into crops and assess average numbers of beetles per plant against thresholds.
Keep watching the new migration map until either the ‘percent migration’ map indicates migration is complete (met stations turn red) or until your crops are past the economically vulnerable stage of GS61 when around 10% of flowers on main raceme are open on three quarters of the crop.
Pollen beetle migration typically continues for four to six weeks. Our weekly pollen beetle bulletins will report developments until the Bayer Pollen Beetle Predictor indicates that migration is complete throughout the country.
Access pollen beetle predictor at: http://www.bayercropscience.co.uk/tools-and-services/agronomy-online-tools-and-services/pollen-beetle-predictor/
