Aphid Numbers in Wheat are Low

Spring aphid treatments were applied to our Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus experiment on 5/6/08 at our Arlington, Lancaster, and Janesville sites. Wheat growth stage varied among our planting dates and ranged from Zadoks 14,22,30 (Feekes 4-5) “pseudostem erection” to Zadoks 16, 29, 31 (Feekes 6) “1st detectable node”. Across all of our plots we found only one Oat Bird Cherry aphid. The established spring threshold for this pest is 50 aphids per linear foot of row.

Drawing by Dennis Murphy – MU