Month: June 2017
Pest of the month: Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum)
Category name: Bacteria
Importance: Emergency disease: No, however not found in Western Australia.
Symptoms: The bacterium that causes bacterial wilt is a xylem vessel coloniser which produces cell wall degrading enzymes. The pathogen multiplies rapidly in the vascular tissue and fills xylem with bacterial cells and slime, thus preventing water uptake. More
Growers are invited to attend a series of upcoming biosecurity workshops and farm walks, aimed at providing practical tips for monitoring pests and diseases as well as a step-by-step process for diagnosing unknown plant health problems.
Entomologists and plant pathologists Andrew Manners and John Duff, who specialise in production nursery biosecurity at the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), are running the workshops as part of the nursery levy funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002). More
Accurate mite identification is critical to protect stock, minimise throw-outs and reduce the cost of control.
These are some of the take home messages Dr Andrew Manners and John Duff from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) delivered to nursery producers and industry representatives during a recent Mite identification and management webinar.
The one hour presentation covered a range of topics that are highly relevant to production nurseries, including how to identify common groups of pest mites, monitoring techniques, available control options and resources for further information. Attendees were given the opportunities to ask questions and participate in polls during the presentation. More
Month: May 2017
Pest of the month: Bean spider mite (Tetranychus ludeni)
Category name: Mites
Importance: Minor – sometimes important
Similar to: Two-spotted mite
Description: Egg: Minute, globular, almost transparent, can have reddish tinge. Immatures: Similar to two-spotted mite. Adult: Uniformly dark red, distinguishing it from two-spotted mite which is yellowish-green with two dark spots. In cooler climates the red overwintering phase of two-spotted mite is a lighter red than that of bean spider mite. More
Imagine having to look at 139,000 photos, and decide if they’re mostly of grass, trees, or hard surfaces.
That’s what a team of researchers has spent the past few months doing, as part of the project Where should all the trees go? An investigation of the impact of tree canopy cover on socio-economic status and wellbeing in LGAs (NY16005).
It follows on from the 2014 report Where are all the trees? – which created Australia’s first national baseline measurement of tree canopy cover – and will update and compare those figures for each of Australia’s 139 urban Local Government Areas. More
Eucalyptus rust, Guava rust
Pest of the month: Eucalyptus rust, Guava rust (Puccinia psidii)
Category name: Fungi
Importance: Emergency disease, however currently found only in Eastern Australia.
Symptoms: The fungus attacks young tissues of new leaves, fruits, flowers, shoots and succulent twigs. The disease can cause deformation of leaves, heavy defoliation of branches, dieback, stunted growth and even death. More
