Phenology and abundance of pest insects of vegetable and salad crops in Britain: decision support for growers

Abstract: One of the key principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is that treatments, be they insecticidal or through other means, should be planned and applied in the context of the life-cycle of the target pest. With that in mind, over a period of more than 20 years, increasing amounts of information about the phenology and abundance of key pests have been conveyed to growers of vegetable and salad crops in Britain. Some of this information is based on ‘real-time’ data, mainly produced by sampling with traps, and some is based on weather-based forecasts of pest phenology (and occasionally abundance) of varying complexity. This short review summarises some of the approaches used, and the information disseminated, for different pests of vegetable and salad crops in Britain, and considers how valuable such information might be to growers.