UK: Virus pressure on potatoes in the Midlands

Virus pressure is high in the Midlands and northern England due to increasing numbers of peach-potato aphids (Myzus persicae). The peach–potato aphid has been caught throughout England with highest numbers in the Midlands, plus a first arrival in the Dundee ST. Virus pressure is reported as moderate in East Anglia and the south west. AHDB warned potato growers that numbers of other non-colonising vectors of PVY and PVA were increasing (black bean aphid, mealy cabbage aphid, willow–carrot aphid, leaf-curling plum aphid) and could pose a threat as virus vectors through sheer weight of numbers on young plants. This information was first reported in the AHDB Aphid News update.