Trap Catches Identified to August 08, 2020.

Aphid numbers took a jump this week with the total aphid numbers and the number of vector species doubling over last week.  The Damson Hop aphid, which was recovered at 3 different sites this week, Cannabis aphids also were captured this week, although only at one location.  Thistle aphids have started to appear and small grain aphids also increased in numbers.  Potato aphids remain well established in several locations.  Several of these vector species being recovered are relatively effective.  Consequently, the PVY Vector Risk Index more than doubled this week.

Even though numbers have doubled from last week, aphid captures and the PVY Risk Index values are less than half what they were at this time last year. Compared to many past years, this remains a low aphid year.  But even a few aphids can move inoculum around in a field.  So keep scouting!  

 

If you have a field where Colorado Potato Beetle aren’t being controlled by insecticides, please let us know.  We’d like to get samples of that population to test for insecticide resistance.  Contact Ian MacRae at 218-280-9887.

As always, keep on scouting!

Scouting for aphids in potatoes:

- Select leaves from the lower to mid canopy. Start at the edge of the field.

- Lower, older leaves will have more established colonies and aphids prefer the balance of nutrients found here; aphids are rarely found on leaves in the upper canopy.

- Avoid leaves on the ground or in contact with the soil.

- In seed potatoes there is only a threshold for PLRV (10 aphids/100 leaves), reactive application of insecticides an effective control for PVY.

- The use of feeding suppressing insecticides, such as pymetrozine (Fulfill®) or flonicamid (Beleaf®) and refined crop oils, such as Aphoil and JMS Stylet Oil, at or prior to field colonization by aphids may reduce the transmission of PVY within fields. Some other insecticides, such as clothianidin (Belay®), imidacloprid (Admire Pro® or Provado®), and spirotetramat (Movento®), have also been demonstrated to reduce the transmission of PVY.

- In table stock potatoes, a treatment threshold of 30 aphids /100 leaves should deter yield loss due to aphid feeding.

The PVY Risk Index Index

Not all species of aphid are equally efficient at transmitting PVY, some are better than others (green peach being the most efficient vector of PVY).  So, the total number of aphids in a trap don't necessarily reflect just how much vector pressure there is at that location.  The PVY Vector Risk Index compares aphid numbers, incorporating their relative vector efficiency compared to the Queen of PVY vectors (green peach aphid!).  Using averaged reference comparisons from the literature, we multiply the number of each aphid species captured by its efficiency compared to Green Peach Aphid to more accurately depict risk posed by the species being trapped.  We then sum the totals.  The PVY-VRI values are presented on the tables below but also on maps comparing current cumulative risk to the total risk from the sample sites of last year (to compare with your local winter grow out results).

Click on any image below for full-scale version.

Cumulative PVY Vector Risk Index to August 08, 2020.

    

Cumulative PVY Vector Risk Index for 2019 (for comparison)

Aphid Species Capture and PVY Vector Risk Index for the week ending August 08, 2020

Cumulative Aphid Species Capture and PVY Vector Risk Index to August 08, 2020.