Factsheet 07/11 Horticulture Stoneleigh Park Development Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 2TL Cane fruit Company T: 0247 669 2051 E: [email protected] Beetle and weevil pests of cane fruit crops Nick Birch and Stuart Gordon, James Hutton Institute and Janet Allen, ADAS This factsheet provides growers with key information about the biology of, and the damage caused by, beetles and weevils to cane fruit crops. It offers guidance on assessing their impact and control. It deals primarily with raspberry beetle (Figure 1), vine weevil, clay coloured weevil (Figure 2), strawberry blossom weevil, cantharid (soldier) beetle, cockchafer and wireworm (click beetle). Introduction The value and demand for raspberries, blackberries and other cane fruits in the UK has increased markedly in recent years. A high proportion of raspberries and blackberries are sold through major multiple retailers, who demand a supply of high quality fruit over an extended season. The majority of crops destined for sale via the multiples are now grown under protection for at least part or the majority of each growing season. Protected cropping can provide an environment suited to some beetle © Defra and weevil pests but can also pose difficulties in their control. 1 Raspberry beetle adult in raspberry flower With increasing pressure from customers to reduce the use of conventional pesticides and avoid the presence of detectable residues, growers need to adopt novel control methods where possible. This factsheet aims to improve growers’ ability to recognise beetle and weevil pests, monitor for their presence and better understand the integrated and other control methods available. 2 Clay coloured weevil adult Beetles Beetles and weevils belong to one Fully grown larvae are 6-8 mm blackberry soon after their first flowers of the largest groups of insects, the long, pale yellowish-brown in colour open, attracted by floral volatiles and Coleoptera, with over 4,000 species with darker head and segmental by the reflected light wavelengths alone being recorded in Britain. Some plates along their body (Figure 5). from the flowers. They feed on the are beneficial (e.g. ladybirds) and prey newly opened flowers, either on the on insect and mite pests (e.g. aphids) nectaries at the base of the flower and their presence may reduce the or on the anthers (Figure 8). need for insecticide use. Fortunately, only a small number cause damage to raspberry and other Rubus crops. Raspberry beetle (Byturus tomentosus) Biology 5 Raspberry beetle larva burrowing into receptacle of fruit The adult beetles are small, elongate oval in shape, from 4-5 mm in length Adult raspberry beetles emerge and 1.5-2 mm in width (Figure 3). from the soil in spring and feed They are uniformly light brown- on the young expanding leaves yellow to nearly black. The adults of raspberry primocanes for several days (Figure 6). darken in colour as they mature. 8 Raspberry beetle adult damage to stamens & anthers of raspberry flower Once fed on Rubus flowers, mating takes place and egg laying begins. Eggs are attached to the anthers or the styles and in commercial plantations, where the beetle populations are generally low, one egg is laid in each flower. Multiple egg laying can occur, in plantations where control is poor or absent 6 Raspberry beetle adults on tips of or where nearby wild host plants primocane (e.g. woodland or hedge brambles and wild/abandoned raspberries) When the air temperature is above provide a reservoir for the build up 14-15ºC, they may fly more than 30m of high populations of beetles. The to feed on flowers of their intermediate 3 Raspberry beetle adult on raspberry complete life cycle of the raspberry flower bud hosts, hawthorn (Crataegus beetle is illustrated in Diagram 1. monogyna), apple (Malus domestica) The eggs are milky white, cylindrical or pear (Pyrus spp). Those that Damage in shape, 1.2 mm long, 0.4 mm wide do not migrate feed on developing and tapered at their ends (Figure raspberry or blackberry leaves and After hatching, young larvae 4). They darken slightly as a beetle buds, causing considerable damage usually feed around the ‘neck’ of larva develops within them. to developing flowers (Figure 7). the developing green fruit (Figure 9). When the fruit begins to ripen, the larvae then burrow into the receptacle inside the developing fruit, where extensive tunnelling can be observed at harvest (Figure 10). 7 Raspberry beetle adult on damaged raspberry flower bud 4 Raspberry beetle egg laid on Beetles that migrated to alternate 9 Raspberry beetle larval damage to the developing fruit hosts fly back to raspberry or flesh of raspberry Diagram 1 Life cycle of the raspberry beetle from the soil the following spring. However, some beetles that have fed on autumn-fruiting raspberries do not pupate in the soil during the first winter, but remain as dormant larvae through the following year, emerging as adults 18-24 months later. In raspberry, approximately 90% of 11 Raspberry beetle damaged fruits the larvae remain on the plants at harvest with 10% removed with the harvested fruit (Figure 11). In contrast, in hybrid berries, where the fruit is harvested with its receptacle, most larvae are removed with the fruit. Fully fed larvae drop to the soil (Figure 12), burrow to a depth of about 3-15 cm and form earthen cells. 10 Raspberry beetle larva burrows into They pupate within these cells, most fruit receptacle over-wintering as adults, and emerge 12 Raspberry beetle larva in soil Wingless weevils Vine weevil of their elytra (wing cases) which (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) are deeply sculptured (grooved). Vine weevil is the most common Generally there is one generation of wingless weevil in the UK. It this pest per year, with adult weevils frequently damages strawberry, emerging from the soil in the spring hardy ornamental nursery stock and and early summer. However some house and garden plants. In recent weevils do over winter as adults. All years adult weevils have increasingly vine weevils are parthenogenetic caused damage to raspberry and females. Males are not required in 13 Vine weevil adult on leaf blackberry foliage and posed a risk reproduction. The adult females are as a contaminant of fruit especially most active at night. During daylight of protected crops. Their larvae they are quiescent, hiding under severely damage the roots and thereby weaken cane fruit plantations. weeds, plastic mulches, stones, lumps of soil, leaf litter or under Biology or between other crop debris. The eggs (Figure 14) are white when The largest of the wingless weevils laid, but turn brown just before they found in the UK, adult vine weevils are hatch. Larvae are C-shaped and are 7-11 mm in length (Figure 13). When newly emerged from the soil they are between 8-10 mm in length when a pale brown colour, darkening to fully grown (Figure 15 overleaf). a shiny black to a dull brown colour They pupate in earthen soil cells when mature. There are tufts of before emerging in the spring or yellowish hairs on the upper surface early summer (Figure 16 overleaf). 14 Vine weevil eggs © Defra 15 Vine weevil larvae in soil 18 Vine weevil damage to blackberry 20 Adult vine weevil (left) pictured foliage alongside the clay coloured weevil The life expectancy of this weevil is thought to be longer than vine weevil, with adult females living up to three years. Adult females emerge from the soil in spring and after a period of intensive feeding they mate and lay their first batch of eggs. Several cycles of feeding and egg-laying may then occur during the spring. Initially white, the eggs turn brown in the soil prior to hatching so are 16 Vine weevil pupa in soil 19 Vine weevil damage to raspberry very difficult to see. The larvae foliage feed on raspberry roots to a depth of 50 cm, considerably deeper Damage than that of vine weevil. Pupation Clay-coloured weevil occurs in the soil within earthen Weevil larvae feed on and destroy (Otiorhynchus singularis) cells. Adult clay-coloured weevils fine root hairs and bite sections are nocturnal feeders and it is rare out of the main feeding roots of Clay coloured weevil occurs to find them on the foliage during raspberries and blackberries. This throughout the UK and can often be daylight hours. The complete life seriously weakens affected plants found in orchards or on old orchard cycle of the clay coloured weevil (Figure 17). The adults feed mainly sites. Although just a sporadic pest is illustrated in Diagram 2. on the foliage of primocanes and of cane fruit, it can cause severe floricanes, cutting notches out of the damage to raspberry and blackberry Damage margins and gradually destroying plantations in early spring. Most damage is caused by adult the leaf lamina (Figures 18 and Biology weevils feeding on developing lateral 19). They occasionally damage buds at night in the early spring fruiting laterals and flowers and In contrast to vine weevil, the adult (Figure 21). Where weevil infestations also the rind and bases of newly clay coloured weevil is smaller (6-8 are large and especially when their emerged primocanes. They are mm in length), more compact in emergence from the soil coincides potentially serious contaminants of appearance and is speckled brown with the bud elongation phase of the harvested fruit, in both fresh fruit rather than black/brown (Figure 20). crop, whole laterals can be destroyed and machine harvested crops. Diagram 2 Life cycle of the clay coloured weevil 17 Blackberry weakened by larval feeding on roots (left) (Figure 22). If emergence occurs later the damage to leaf petioles and the stems of developing fruiting laterals can be variable, but usually results in weakened and broken laterals.