PestFacts WA

Final PestFacts WA newsletter for 2022!

Harvesting wheat. Photo courtesy of DPIRD.

This is the 21st and final issue of the PestFacts WA newsletter for the 2022 growing season. Extra editions may be circulated if extraordinary circumstances occur after this time.

All of this season’s PestFacts WA newsletters can be found at DPIRD’s PestFacts WA newsletter archive.

2022 PestFacts WA statistics

This year the PestFacts WA team received almost 3,100 reports in total (current to 9 November 2022).

What were the top five reported pests?

The PestFacts WA team received 1,135 invertebrate pest reports. The native budworm was the most reported pest with 416 reports received via the spring trapping program and non-trapping reports. This was followed by the diamondback moth (231) and redlegged earth mite (139). The top five insects reported are listed in Table 1, below.

What were the top five reported plant diseases for 2022?

As of 9 November 2022, there were 706 plant disease reports recorded by the PestFacts WA team from a variety of sources. Powdery mildew in wheat was the most reported disease (147 reports), followed by Blackleg in canola (95). Table 2, below, displays the other diseases that were most commonly reported.

2022 PestFacts WA map statistics

PestFacts WA map displaying occurrences for all disorders reported for the previous two weeks, current to 18 November 2022. Map courtesy of DPIRD.

The PestFacts WA map provides a visual display of the pests and diseases reported by the industry since 1996. Viewers can choose a host, a disorder and a time period. They can also select a 'Same time as last year' map view to highlight seasonal commonality or differences.

In 2022, an impressive 6,979 maps were generated as of 15 November. This number includes every map generated between each dropdown box selection.

Maps that displayed ‘All’ disorders were generated the most with 4,741 generated.

Russian wheat aphid was the disorder map most specifically generated (499), followed by Diamondback moth maps (245). To see what the other top disorder maps viewed were refer to Table 3 below. These disorders may have been viewed for previous season’s distribution (historical data) as well as this season.

Acknowledgements

The PestFacts WA team would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to submit insect, plant disease reports and identification requests this year to the PestFacts WA service.

We would also like to acknowledge the following people and projects for sharing their invertebrate and/or plant disease reports;

• Consenting clients using the Agworld and Back Paddock Adviser apps. For more information on this collaboration refer to the 2022 PestFacts WA Issue 21 article PestFacts WA continues successful collaboration with Agworld and Back Paddock
• DPIRD and GRDC co-funded project titled: Disease surveillance and related diagnostics for the Australian grain industry (Western region)
• DPIRD, GRDC & SARDI co-funded project titled: Survey of the Summer/Autumn Brassica Refuges for Diamondback Moth in the Western Region to Predict Early Season Risk of Infestation
• DPIRD’s subproject in the national Hort Innovation-led project: iMapPESTS, Sentinel surveillance for agriculture
• DPIRD Boosting Grains Science Partnership surveillance project for Green peach aphid surveillance data.

All reports are greatly appreciated and are vital for PestFacts WA to keep growers and consultants informed and up to date with what is happening across WA.

For more information on the PestFacts WA service please contact PestFacts WA newsletter editor Cindy Webster, Narrogin on +61 (0)8 9881 0201.

Article author: Cindy Webster (DPIRD Narrogin).