Crop Clinic

For pictures of this pest, see the technical note on stem boring pests in oilseed rape and the pest and disease note.

 You may be expecting stems to shoot up but instead plants remain stunted and lateral shoots are produced instead. If you cut open the stems of these plants you will find the crown hollowed out and white grubs inside. These grubs will have been happily feeding away over the winter months.

There is nothing that can be done now except to bear in mind this could happen to next season’s crops. We would welcome reports of rape winter stem weevil damage and where possible a few samples sent down to the Crop Clinic for confirmation.

Another pest, the cabbage stem flea beetle, may cause similar damage. The difference between the two are that cabbage stem flea beetle grubs have legs, rape winter stem weevil grubs don’t.