From the Ground Up, Issue 77

This update provides information on Septoria tritici blotch, stripe and leaf rusts, powdery mildew, Seedling blight, foot and crown rot, ear blight, common eyespot and sharp eyespot.

FAR has received several reports of heavy aphid infestations in cereal and ryegrass crops around the country. Although the risk of yield losses associated with aphid-vectored viruses is low now, direct feeding damage can still occur when numbers are very high.

Crop Action keeps you up to date with arable crop development and actions right across New Zealand.

A range of diseases can affect cocksfoot, and many of these are also found on other grass species, such as ryegrass and tall fescue. Many are nevertheless unique to cocksfoot and are covered, together with those with a wider host range, in the attached handbook.

With the season in full flight, cocksfoot growers will be monitoring their crops for downy mildew and considering control options.

Learn more about cocksfoot disease management on your farm, from our latest field day booklet.

FAR’s latest Cereal Disease Management Strategy booklet provides up to date knowledge on agrichemical and integrated management of cereal diseases in New Zealand, including chemistry that has only come on the market in 2022. An updated version is due out in Spring 2024.

Crop Action keeps you up to date with arable crop development and actions right across New Zealand.

The full 2022 Cereal Disease Management Strategy is available online.