Pests and Diseases

​​Blueb​​erry Rust

What to look for:

  • Initial small yellow, chlorotic leaf spots on upper surface of young leaves
  • Lesions turn rust/brown coloured and enlarge as the infection progresses
  • Yellow-orange powdery pustules develop on the underside of leaves
  • Similar pustules may also appear on blueberry fruit
  • Premature leaf drop and defoliation

Find detailed information on the​ Blueberry Rust webpage.

Comm​on White Snail

What to look for:

  • Contamination of pasture and fodder
  • Stock reject heavily infected pasture and hay
  • Clover and seedlings of cereal, canola, and pulses eaten and diminished

Find detailed information on the​​ Common White Snail webpage.

European and English Wasps

What to look for:

  • Can cause damage to fruit - particularly soft fruit and graps
  • Agressive behaviour and interfer with outdoor eating
  • Capable of stinging repeatedly

Find detailed information on the European and English wasps webpage.

​European House Borer

What to look for:

  • Causes damage to pine, fir, and spruce materials and products
  • Larvae bore into timber affecting its structure
  • Signs are difficult to detect as larvae remains under the surface

Find detailed information on the European House Borer webpage.

Fall armyworm

What to look for:

  • Eggs under surface of leaves, clustered in masses 100-200, covered with "felt-like" layer of scales.
  • Larvae between 6-36mm in length, green or brown with black lines
  • Moths 32-40mm across wings, brown or grey forewing, white hindwing

Fruit fly

Fruit flies cause enormous damage to fruit and some vegetable crops around the world. Tasmania is free of fruit fly and it is important for our horticultural industries that we keep fruit fly out of the state​​.

What to look for:

  • Fruit fly lay their eggs in fruit
  • Larvae feed on fruit from the inside
  • Rot develops quickly in infected fruit
  • Rapid loss of product

Find detailed information on the Fruit fly​​ webpage.

Giant Willow Aphid and Concrete Honey

What to look for:

  • Builds up dense colonies on willows and occasionally poplers
  • Produces a sticky honeydew from feeding which attracts wasps and bees in large numbers
  • May affect honey production

Find detailed information on the Giant Willow Aphid and Concrete Honey webpage.

Myrtle Rust

What to look for:

  • Bright yellow rust pustules develop on leaves during warmer months
  • Older infections turn grey and leaves wither
  • Purple and brown discolouration on both sides of leaves

Find detailed information on the myrtle rust webpage.​​​

Phytophthora

What to look for:

  • Death or disease of susceptible species
  • Red and yellow discolouration of foliage
  • Resistant plants in and around the infestation remain healthy

Find detailed information on the Phytophthora webpage.

Potato Tuber Moth

Potato Tu​​ber Moth​ (Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) Is an adventive pest of potato Solanum tuberosum in Tasmania where it causes most damage during field storage of tubers rather than by mining crop foliage or tunnelling in tubers during artificial storage above ground.

Ramularia Leaf Spot

What to look for:

  • Small, brown, rectangular spots with yellow margins on leaves
  • Loss of leaf growth in plants
  • Poor crops

Find detailed information on the​ Ramularia Leaf Spot webpage.

Russian Wheat Aphid

What to look for:

  • Rolled leaves
  • Discolouration of leaves including chlorotic spots and leaf streaking
  • Stunted crop
  • Affects cereals, grasses, and wheat

Find detailed information on the Russian Wheat Aphid webpage.

Serpentine Leafminer

What to look for:

  • Feeding punctures in leaves
  • Irregular "leafmines"
  • Heavy infestation may lead to plant rotting and death

Tomato Potato Psyllid

What to look for:

  • Stunted Growth
  • Poor Crop
  • Change of leaf colour including chlorosis and purpling
  • Distorted leaf growth and stem death

Find detailed information on the Tomato Potato Psyllid webpage.

​Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus

What to look for:

  • Light green streaks on leaves which become yellow marks resembling mosaic 
  • Reduced crop production
  • Affects cereals, grasses wheat

Find detailed information on the Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus webpage.​

Further info​rmation

Other pest management resources on this website include: 

Contact

Biosecurity Enquiries