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A problem with early drilled wheat..

Having drilled some of our first wheats in mid September (the earliest they've drilled wheat on the farm I was told) it is now possible to find signs of gout fly damage - not enough to be a problem but on careful inspection some tillers resemble a 'spring onion' - see the picture below (the only infected tiller is the fat one) - and by cutting the plant in half it is also possible to see the gout fly larvae - see the bottom picture. The gout fly lays its eggs on the leaf in September and once the eggs hatch the larvae burrows down into the plant - stunting growth and causing the swelling of the plant - the larvea then feeds on the plant for a few weeks, then pupates for a few more before an adult emerges.

It is possible to spot signs of gout fly in the autumn by identifying signs of egg laying on the leaves- the eggs are 3-4mm long and cylindrical in shape; the crop can be sprayed to control them, although it is important that this is timed to coincide with the eggs hatching - however in our case we either missed the timing of identifying them, or their presence was low enough so that we didn't notice it.