INDUSTRY NEWS
Trapping the almond carpophilus beetle
Australian Farming Services senior agronomist Brian Slater checks one of the carpophilus beetle traps , which is helping monitor the pest on their three properties .
AUSTRALIAN Farming Services ( AFS ) has found it worthwhile hosting traps for monitoring almond carpophilus beetle ( Carpophilus truncatus ) on their three properties . The company will continue working with Agriculture Victoria ( AV ) as a broader monitoring network is developed in partnership with the ABA . “ It ’ s not an overly big burden ,” AFS senior agronomist Brian Slater said . The traps are serviced weekly and Brian said the process takes about an hour to do six traps on a 1,650ha orchard . Most of that time is spent driving , as each trap requires only a few minutes to service . “ It ’ s also an opportunity to observe what else is happening in the orchard , I ’ m scouting for pests and diseases as I drive around ,” he said . The company started using the carpophilus traps on their three properties in January this year in response to AV looking to trial the traps in different commercial orchards . AFS has 18 traps in total , with six on each orchard . Brian said the biggest pain is storing the liquid component of the trap lure . “ The liquid is 50 per cent ethanol and needs to be stored in a fridge or cool room , away from food ,” he said . Brian observed a reasonable spike in beetle catches for two to three weeks during harvest , as the hull on each variety dried out and the food source ran dry . “ Some traps had over 10,000 to 12,000 carpophilus beetles ,” he said . “ The trap must smell like fresh nuts to a carpophilus beetle .” Brian confessed that he didn ’ t individually count each beetle , instead he used scales .
“ The average weight of 100 carpophilus beetles is between 0.09 and 0.11 grams ,” he said Very low numbers continued to be caught from mid-May to mid-July , then the catches started to increase , particularly in mid-August when the weather warmed . Brian said that sites that have recorded high beetle numbers in the past are likely to be problematic again this season . Australian Farming Services average around one per cent insect damage for Nonpariel and are keen to keep the level of damage down . “ We ’ re going to keep monitoring ,” he said . “ We will also take samples of the nuts near the trap and 40m to 50m away and compare kernel damage to see if damage levels can be related to the numbers of beetles caught .”
industry . australianalmonds . com . au
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