Pest Alert: Update on swede midge in Massachusetts (December 14, 2005)

The swede midge is an introduced pest of brassicas that has been found in 6 counties in western New York and in 18 counties in Ontario and 20 counties in Quebec, Canada. Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and UMass have been working collaboratively to survey for this pest in Massachusetts as part of the USDA, APHIS Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS). Two suspect swede midge specimens were captured in Hampshire County this summer. The suspect swede midge specimens were screened visually and with PCR by Dr. Tony Shelton’s lab at Cornell University. One specimen caught in a Northampton garden with mixed brassica species was confirmed to be swede midge by DNA sequencing done at Cornell University. The other suspect specimen from a Hadley vegetable farm was NOT swede midge. Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources found no further specimens to send to the USDA insect identifier for verification. Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources will be working with the garden owners to prevent the movement of swede midge via soil or plant material.

If you suspect swede midge damage in your fields, please email Jennifer Forman Orth or call (617) 626-1735. Early detection of this pest will allow growers to implement management strategies to keep population levels low and take measures to prevent further spread of swede midge. For more detailed information on swede midge and future updates visit our website: (www.massnrc.org/pests).

The pest alert is from the Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project, a collaborative project between the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and the UMass Extension Agriculture and Landscape Program aimed at preventing the establishment of new pathogens and pests in Massachusetts. Visit the project website (http://www.massnrc.org/pests) for more information on Swede midge and other emerging pests or to subscribe and unsubscribe for pest alerts.