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Blue oat mites (Penthaleus spp.) are now present and active in most cropping regions of Victoria and New South Wales following recent rainfall events and cooler temperatures. Agronomist, Elissa Strong (AGnVET Services), has found high numbers of blue oat mites damaging lucerne near Forbes, in the Central West Slopes and Plains district of New South Wales. Elissa says seedlings were damaged, particularly around the edges of the paddock and mites were also found on Paterson’s curse along fencelines. Researcher, Sommer Jenkins (cesar), has also observed moderate-high numbers of blue oat mites in various pasture paddocks throughout the Western district of Victoria in the past fortnight.
Blue oat mites are typically active throughout the winter growing season from April until November. They undergo several generations per season, with each generation lasting around 8-10 weeks. The ideal time to control blue oat mites is once they have fully emerged from their over-summering (diapause) eggs, but before they have commenced laying eggs for the second generation.
Click here for images of blue oat mites and refer to PestFacts Issue No. 2 for further 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.
PestFacts map
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.
How to acknowledge PestFacts?
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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