CEREAL AND oilseed rape growers are being urged to keep a check on rising slug populations to prevent establishment yield losses and guard against potentially severe yield losses next year.

Populations are already building in harvested rape and barley fields. Recent storms, delivering over 25mm of rain in some areas, will only exacerbate the problem, says Dalgety technical manager Colin Lloyd.

“This year I think we‘ll see slug numbers increasing to a level we haven‘t seen for some time. That means growers have to act quickly to get populations under control.

“The warm, damp conditions have encouraged a slug haven under rape swaths and chopped straw.

“We‘ve had reports that large numbers have hatched, probably from eggs that have lain dormant in the soil for some time. Unless growers put into place an action plan to control them, they could face patchy establishment leading to yield losses in crops drilled this autumn.”

Crops at risk should be identified and a slug pelleting plan put in place, he advises.

This should be based on monitoring using slug traps to gauge population pressure.

Trapping must be done before soil is disturbed to get an accurate idea of numbers, Mr Lloyd recommends.

He advises pelleting straight after rape crops are harvested to reduce numbers immediately.