Newspaper Article 2003 – Booklet details grass grub control

Booklet details grass grub control

If you are unsure about Tasmanian grass grub (its identification, biology, management and control), then a technical booklet summarising the findings of two projects conducted in Hawke’s Bay – along with reference to work conducted in New Zealand and Australia has recently been released.

It provides technical information backed with clear photographs of all the life stages of the pest and its damage to pasture.

The 56-page booklet was written by Mike Slay of Homelea Ltd and John Brock of AgResearch.

The booklet contains a calculator to help farmers work out the economics of grass grub control.

It is the final milestone of the project Tasmania Hawke’s Bay, set up by a group of farmers with funding from a MAF Sustainable Farming Fund, Meat and Wool Innovation, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, local farmers and BASF to help farmers acquire. the skills, knowledge and resources to manage the pest.

Tasmanian grass grub was first collected in Canterbury in 1916, established in Hastings in the 1970s and spread into Central Hawke’s Bay after the dry late-80s and early 90s.

In 2002, a survey showed it had spread deeply into Tararua as far as Akitio, showing the pest is widely distributed in the region.

Moist summers favour a build-up of the pest on dry land but pasture growth associated with moist summers/early autumns usually mask the pest’s presence.

However, after one or two dry summers/early autumns that restrict pasture growth, Tasmanian grassgrub becomes more widely distributed resulting in serious damage to pasture in late autumn/early winter, if the larvae are not controlled,

The booklet is available for $10 from Paper Plus in Waipukurau and Taradale; Whitcoulls, Hastings; Farmlands, Waipukurau; or John Kyle, Rapaki, Box 335, Waipukurau.

Contacts: Mike Slay, Homelea AgTechnology and Advisory Service, Hastings. Phone 06 874 3233.

John Kyle, PO Box 335, Waipukurau. Phone (06) 858 8700.