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Agronomist, Allan Edis (Landmark), has reported the presence of blue oat mites (Penthaleus sp.) around Temora, in the South West Slopes district of New South Wales. The mites have emerged in a wheat crop that is at the 3-5 leaf stage. Allan says blue oat mites have not previously been a problem in this paddock, which was also sown to wheat in 2011. With the recent cool weather and rainfall, blue oat mites will very soon be hatching from their summer diapause eggs in many other parts of southern New South Wales as well as Victoria.
It will be important to check seedling crops over the next few months for damage. Blue oat mites attack a wide variety of plant types including cereals, oilseeds and pastures. They feed by piercing plant cells and sucking out the contents, which results in silver or white patches. High mite populations can kill plants at emergence, when crops are most vulnerable to attack.
It is important to distinguish blue oat mites from other mite species, such as redlegged earth mites and bryobia mites, as this will influence control. Blue oat mites are up to 1 mm in length with a globular shaped dark body and eight red legs. Blue oat mites can be distinguished by the presence of a characteristic orange-red mark on their back.
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.
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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