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Oilseeds Development Officer, Felicity Pritchard, found high numbers of redlegged earth mites (Halotydeus destructor) attacking a canola crop near Murtoa in the Wimmera district of Victoria. The mites were found feeding on plants at the 4-5 leaf stage in a paddock that was left to fallow last year. Felicity reports that the characteristic ‘silvering’ of the leaves, caused by mite feeding, is evident. The crop is likely to be sprayed with omethoate to suppress mite numbers. High populations of redlegged earth mites have also been observed in several pasture and emerging canola paddocks around Shepparton, in the Northern Country of Victoria.
Redlegged earth mites are one of the most important winter establishment pests in southern Australia. They attack a range of crops and pastures, including cereals, oilseeds, legumes and fodder crops. Affected seedlings can die at emergence with high mite populations, leaving bare patches within a paddock. Adults are 1 mm long and have a black body with eight orange-red legs. At this time of year, the use of chemical sprays should be carefully considered. Many annual crops are now at the stage where they can outgrow feeding damage fairly quickly, although late sown crops and young seedlings are still susceptible.
Redlegged earth mites are easily confused with other mite pests, such as blue oat mites. Click here for images of redlegged earth mites and refer to PestFacts Issue No. 2 for more information.
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.
We need your reports
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.
Agricultural invertebrate identification
If you are a grower or agronomist in Victoria or NSW working with broadacre crops or pastures, we can assist you with identifying invertebrates found on farms at no cost. Please contact us for identification help.
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PestFacts map is an interactive tool that allows users to search and view historical pest reports across Victoria and NSW. The map is updated with each issue of PestFacts to include new reports.
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With appropriate acknowledgement, cesar grants permission to reproduce information taken directly from PestFacts. To cite PestFacts: “PestFacts south-eastern (<<enter date published>>). cesar pty ltd.”
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