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Consultant, John Robertson (Agwise Services), reports green peach aphids (Myzus persicae) attacking several crop types, in particular canola, in the Wimmera and southern Mallee regions of Victoria. Oilseeds Development Officer, Felicity Pritchard, has reported a number of winged green peach aphids within a canola crop, near Horsham, in the Wimmera, Victoria.
Adult green peach aphids are oval-shaped and about 3mm in length. They vary in colour including yellow, green, orange and pink. Winged adults are almost completely black in colour. The green peach aphid is polyphagous, attacking more than 110 plants worldwide.
Green peach aphids feed by sucking sap usually on the underside of the oldest leaves. They usually feed in buds and flowers, and generally do not form large dense colonies. The green peach aphid is a vector of several important plant diseases, including the beet western yellow luteovirus (BWYV).
John has also reported cowpea aphids (Aphis craccivora) on numerous crops including lentils and beans in the Wimmera and southern Mallee. The numbers of aphids are at damaging levels and some paddocks will require chemical control. John says the highest aphid population densities have been observed in paddocks that were sown to vetch in 2005.
The cowpea aphid is easily distinguished from other crop aphids; the adults are shiny black and nymphs are dull grey in colour. All stages have white and black coloured legs. Winged adults move into crops where they reproduce and colonise on the growing tips of host plants. Cowpea aphids favour legume hosts and are commonly found on faba bean, lentil, medic, lucerne, clover and lupins.
Applying chemicals to control aphids at the present time is unlikely to be warranted in many areas. Consult your local agronomist or advisor before deciding on the most appropriate control strategy. Assess the population of beneficial insects which attack aphids, including parasitoids (tiny wasps) and predators (ladybirds, hover flies and lacewings).
Click here for further information on aphid management.
What is PestFacts?
PestFacts south-eastern keeps growers and advisers informed about invertebrate pests and beneficials in broadacre crops and pastures during the winter-cropping season in Victoria and southern New South Wales.
PestFacts south-eastern is run through IPMforGrains: Best Practice Insect Pest Management, a project delivered by the National Pest Information Network (cesar, DPIRD, QDAF, NSW DPI, and SARDI). This project aims to provide grain growers and advisors with information on invertebrate grain pest occurrence and equip industry with the knowledge needed to implement integrated pest management practices. This initiative is a GRDC investment and includes in-kind contributions from all project partner organisations.
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PestFacts is produced on an ʻas-needsʼ basis and relies upon pest observations and field reports from our subscribers. If you have recently observed invertebrate pests (or beneficial species) in broadacre crops, please contact us to report your observations.
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