The AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds funded wheat bulb fly (WBF) survey can aid decision-making on whether a seed treatment is justified.
Seed treatment decisions have become more important following the loss of egg-hatch sprays (chlorpyrifos) as a control option.
The survey, conducted by ADAS, involves taking soil samples in September from 30 fields prone to WBF attack (split equally across eastern and northern England) and calculating the number of wheat bulb fly eggs/m².
Late-sown (after November) winter wheat crops and spring crops can be more vulnerable to WBF because the tillering window is short. In fact, many crops may have only a single tiller when the WBF hatch occurs.
For further information, read Wheat bulb fly (Information Sheet 51)
