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With establishing crops vulnerable to damage by earth mites, brush up on your ID skills to choose the best management route.
Earth mites are among the most important crop establishment pests in southern Australia, requiring close attention in autumn and early winter. However, not all mites respond to insecticides the same because of different chemical tolerance (or resistance) levels, which can be naturally occurring or management-induced. For instance, Balaustium mites have a high natural tolerance to chemicals, and registered rates aimed at other crop mites will be ineffective. This means that if spraying of earth mites is warranted in your paddocks, effective control begins with correct species identification.
Here’s a short clip on how to correctly identify the most important earth mite pests found in broadacre crops and pastures in southern Australia:
Visit the following PestNotes for more information on these pests:
Redlegged earth mite (Halotydeus destructor)
Blue oat mite (Penthaleus spp.)
Balaustium mite (Balaustium medicagoense)
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.”
Contact us
0484 310 697
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