Shelley Barkley doesn’t just walk into a wheat field, take soil samples and hope to find wheat midge cocoons.
“You have to start thinking like a bug,” said Barkley, an insect research technologist with Alberta Agriculture who is conducting the 2012 wheat midge survey.
Instead, she heads to the low spots where wheat midge like to hang out.
“You have to think like an insect and be random,” said Barkley, who has crisscrossed central Alberta taking soil samples from wheat fields.
She is concentrating on the province’s heavy wheat growing areas. She takes 17 core samples from each field to get three-quarters of a litre of soil.
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She will eventually collect 285 samples, which she will wash in her laboratory in Brooks, Alta. Organic matter and wheat midge cocoons float to the top during the washing process and the cocoons are counted.
“I count out the cocoons and pop them. I use two big darning needles and pull them apart,” said Barkley.
She and her boss, entomologist Scott Meers, look for the number of cocoons in the soil, how many are viable and how many have been attacked by parasites.
The information is sent to Agriculture Canada researchers in Saskatoon, who use it to build insect forecast maps. Farmers will use the maps next summer to predict wheat midge infestations in their area.
“If you live in a wheat midge area, this will give you a heads-up to be more aware,” said Barkley.
Wheat midge is found in southern and central Alberta in moderate to high numbers. Low levels were found in the Peace River area in 2011.
Wheat midge is unlikely to disappear once it has established a foothold in an area. Beneficial wasps thrive in warm, dry conditions and are important to keeping wheat midge under control.
Damage to wheat happens when the midge larvae feed on developing wheat kernels.
