{"id":78516,"date":"2023-12-05T12:59:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T23:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/?p=78516"},"modified":"2023-12-05T13:50:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T00:50:05","slug":"first-fall-armyworm-found-in-northland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/first-fall-armyworm-found-in-northland\/","title":{"rendered":"First fall armyworm found in Northland"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

The first fall armyworms for the 2023\/24 growing season have been confirmed in Northland.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biosecurity officer at the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Ash Mills said the find means the pest has successfully overwintered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills said until now it was unknown if it would survive the weather conditions that had prevailed since July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall armyworm has the most detrimental impact<\/a> on crops planted late, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With most crops planted early there is no \u201cimmediate panic\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere don\u2019t seem to be too many late crops going in, which is where fall armyworm potentially could have significant economic damage,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not expected that the pest\u2019s population distribution will be much different to last season, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ash said FAR\u2019s main concern is to collect data and to get growers involved with collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An area like Northland needs a full day\u2019s worth of frost to kill off significant numbers of the pest, and the short hours of frost the region experienced were not sufficient, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills said researchers want to find out if the worm managed to survive in \u201ca little thermal blanket\u201d of rye grass or kikuyu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It possibly also survived flooding events by pupating in free-draining sandy soils and not drowning, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills said finds of the pest have to be kept on ice, and then transferred to ethanol, so that the foundation can do DNA studies and figure out where the pest overwintered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon as your maize is in, get out there as often as you can, identify any damage and then identify your pest. There\u2019s a lot of other species that have similar characteristics or markings. Take a sample, put it in the freezer, put it on ethanol, take really good photos and then contact me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three other moth captures need to be analysed to see if they are fall armyworm, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills said when used according to guidelines, the approved chemical Sparta is efficient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farmers asked to keep finds on ice, then store them in ethanol to aid in DNA studies.\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":78517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Biosecurity officer at the Foundation for Arable Research Ash Mills says the foundation wants to figure out how the pest survived winter.","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[79],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t