Healthy strawberry runners, more high-quality fruit

High quality runners, free of disease, are key to a successful final product. Underpinning the success and viability of the Australian strawberry industry is a certification and inspection program that supports production of high-quality high-health runners. With increasing climatic variation, as well as the phasing out of methyl bromide for fumigation, the Australian strawberry industry may see the emergence of new serious pathogens. Starting with certified planting stock will help the strawberry industry to limit the impact of emerging and re-emerging pests and disease.

PEST-Chilli Thrips

Chilli thrips have quickly jumped onto the radar of many horticulturalists in Western Australia despite having been present in northern Australia for around 20 years. The first complaints from home gardeners in the Perth metro area were received in approximately 2020. This was followed by table grape growers the following year and by berry growers in 2021/22. This highly polyphagous pest, with a wide host range of 225 plant species, is known around the world to be notoriously difficult to manage and can cause significant economic damage to horticulture.

Developing safer, selective insecticides to preserve honey bee health

Most currently used pesticides in agricultural applications contain broad-spectrum chemicals, which are harmful to a wide range of insects. However, the majority of insects are not pests, and with concerns about global insect declines and the impact this will have on ecosystem health, there is a need for more environmentally friendly insecticides that have selective action against major pests while preserving the health of beneficial insects.

PEST-Red shouldered leaf beetle (Monolepta australis)

The Red shouldered leaf beetle Monolepta australis Jacoby (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera) is an increasingly important insect pest with impacts on numerous horticultural industries throughout Queensland, northern NSW, and subcoastal parts of the Northern Territory.

Habitat hosts of Queensland fruit fly

Switching from eradication to management of Varroa destructor

Since Varroa destructor was detected in NSW in June 2022, 15 pollination dependent industries, the honey bee industry and the Commonwealth and state and territory governments have worked together to attempt to eradicate this pest from Australia. This article outlines the move to a ‘management’ strategy.

RUB-Berry Growers Field Day

The use of heat in horticulture for pest and disease control

You may be familiar with heat being used for virus elimination in plants (thermotherapy), but heat, as hot water, has been used for many years in horticulture to control or eliminate various pests and diseases, particularly in bulb crops for the elimination of nematodes.