Legume Pest Monitoring Systems

PGRO, with Pherosyn Ltd. and Koppert UK, are working together to ensure the continuation of our important monitoring systems for peas. With funding from UKRI, we have been evaluating pea midge pheromones and trapping systems that have become unavailable to growers in recent years. Pea midge is a pest that affects mainly vining peas, although combining peas are occasionally attacked. The larvae feed in the flower buds during June, leading to flower failure and significantly reduced yields in the more determinate vining peas.

Following evaluation at several sites in Yorkshire in 2021, the monitoring system has been shown to work well, accurately predicting early summer emergence of midges, and allowing growers to make well-informed decisions about whether and when to apply insecticides. Work in 2021 showed that the activity period of midges was longer than normally expected, midges flying for up to 4 weeks at some sites compared to just a few days as we would normally expect.

Dr Richard Binks, Koppert UK's Agri technical lead, says "the pea midge system is a valuable addition to Koppert's growing pea pest monitoring tool portfolio. The new system will enable growers to manage this pest more effectively and help pea growers time the application of control solutions more accurately".

The Pea midge monitoring system comprises of Koppert's Pherodis trap and a pheromone lure which attracts the male midges. PGRO's entomologist Dr Becky Howard advises growers to site 4 traps along the field edge from mid-June onwards. Midges are normally active for a period of six weeks.

PGRO, Pherosyn and Koppert will continue their work to develop other legume pest monitoring tools including pea and bean weevil monitoring systems such as the Pea and Bean Weevil Trap.

The pea midge system along with pest monitoring systems for Bruchid beetle, Pea and Bean Weevil, and Pea Moth are also available from Koppert UK. Please contact Dr Richard Binks at rbinks@koppert.co.uk for further details.