Whilst much of our research is targeted at production of vegetables and ornamental plants on a large scale, some of it does have spin-offs for gardeners. This relates particularly to control of pests such as cabbage root fly and carrot fly.

Timing of pest attacks

We have developed weather-based forecasts of the timing of activity of a number of pests of vegetable and salad crops and the output from these is available as the AHDB Pest Bulletin on a web site managed by Syngenta. We also monitor pest activity on the Wellesbourne Campus and the information is recorded in a blog.

Pest control

We have undertaken research on a number of the approaches to pest control that are available to gardeners including the use of fine mesh netting to exclude pests such as cabbage root fly and carrot fly. This year we are collaborators in a trial at RHS Wisley to investigate the use of vertical barriers to exclude carrot fly.

Read RHS Plant Health team member Anna Platoni's blog about the carrot fly trial at Wisley

Information for gardeners

We have also contributed to the new edition of 'Science and the Garden: The Scientific Basis of Horticultural Practice, 3rd Edition' which contains a wealth on information on pests, diseases and other topics.

Adult carrot flies captured on a sdticky trap at Warwick Crop Centre, Wellesbourne

Trial at Warwick Crop Centre to investigate the use of vertical barriers in commercial carrot crops

Range of barriers that will be tested in the trial at RHS Wisley in 2016