Often times we associate ripe fruit and long summer days with SWD pressure on our farms in the UK. This is absolutely a critical time for controlling the invasive pest, but what if we could do a lot of the leg work before we get too busy with organising picking schedules, tunnel venting and general husbandry in the crop?
The lifecycle of the SWD has a weak spot that we can all exploit with effective trapping at a time that might not be so obvious - short, cold wintery days when the farm is empty of fruit... and pretty much anyone else for that matter.
Research at NIAB EMR carried out by Dr. Michelle Fountain and her team showed us that the winter morph of an adult SWD can withstand colder winters and in fact might even lead to them emerging earlier in the spring to begin feeding and breeding. The presence of SWD overwintering on our farms could lead to an increase in population for the following season. However, trial work has also showed us that effective monitoring and trapping through the winter months can lead to a break in this lifecycle by reducing the population density of these more hardened winter morphs the following spring.
So what's our recommendation?
First off, map the farm of any native vegetation that might be a refuge for the pest, namely any rubus (rosaceae) family plants as well as common blackthorn, plum and hawthorn hedges. Woodlands with elder and other soft berries will also become a hotspot and need to be marked on your trap map. Now this is done, setup your SWD Traps around this area at a density of 1 per 2m in a square format across the woodland and along the hedgerow. Fill with 100ml of SWD Attract and keep topped up between November through to March.
For brownie points with your advisor, keep a record of how many you are trapping per refil and to win the mars bar - aim to ID the sex and general size of the flies; i.e. are they a young generation or the older winter morph previously mentioned.
Your EasyLure Agronomy team will happily help with trap mapping and identifying the flies once trapped.
Happy Trapping!
M.R.
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