MITES IN WHEAT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 212, 21 August 1934, Page 8

MITES IN WHEAT

Affect Quality and Quantity CARE IN STORAGE Special precautions should be taken where fanners are storing grain if they wish to keep it free from mites, according to a report issued by the Wheat Research Institute. Mites both reduce the quantity and ruin the quality of stored gram, and it is therefore in the farmer’s own interests to see that inito infection does not occur. Even though the numbers of weevils or miles may not bo very great, merchants and millers are unwilling iu take into their stores any infected lines because the infection will rapidly become worse as the hot weather approaches, and because the pests will spread to other lines in the stores und may even infect the building itself, so that new lines coming in next seisou will be infected in turn. HOW MIT Jib ARE SPREAD. The ni tes themselves, as well as their eggs, are so small that they can be blown about by the wind. I'liey therefore occur everywhere, and when they find a suitable supply of food they j multiply until they become noticeable. It is probable that every line <1 wheat or oats, every bin of clitilf, evory stack of oat sheaves, every chaff eutter mid threshing machine, | Im.- some mites or mites' eggs in it. Their numbers, however, are so simi l that they do no barm. But if tfiese stores >.id remain undisturbed p,i a year or so, the mites multipl, until they become serious. When a line of wheat therefore is stored in a clean shed, it usually remains apparently free from it.tteß for n long time, but

may become obviously mitey at last. A lino may remain clean for several .wars, but the mite often becomes obvious in the summer after the wheat has been put into store. Stores that are properly looked after are not frequently troubled with miles, because the stores are periodically emptied, swept and fumigated. But n lien a farmer stores wheat on bis [ own property, lie frequently has to use a shed that cannot thus be cleaned out, and he therefore runs a risk of his wheat going mitey before he sells it. A few bags of feed oats, or bran, or a few bales of hay, or a chaff bin that has been lying unused, will all be likely sources of infection for wheat stored in the same shed, and may cause heavy infestation of the wheat after it ' has been in store only a few mouths. Bags that have been in a mite-in-fected budding if used for ehaff or grain will be a certain source of infection. I.ven the ehalf spilled from I he feed boxes in a stable, especially il the stable has an earth floor that cannot be swept out may be swarming with mites, and these will infeet wheat stored in another portion of the same building. PRECAUTIONS NECESSARY. farmers who are holding wheat should therefore take certain precautions f'tie shed used should not contain an\ gram, seeds of any kind, chaff, hny, oi bian that lias been held over to) more than one season. It should nut even be the next room in the sain, building to such held-over gram or hay. It should not be next to a stable with an earth lloor, in which dropping, of chair have been allowed Io accumulate. The shed should be swept out before the wheat is stacked in it, nud it would even be advisable to use water id the dusty corners. Such things as potatoes, manure, or woo! may be hit in the grain store il necessary, as these do not provide food tor mites, but a store of mites fodder in even a distant shed may i.c a source of danger, since the mites are considerably cairied bv mice and rail. Quite apart from their possible ef- ' feel, uu aimed wheat it is advisable tn .

use up odd lots of old grain or hay as these may go mitey, and be spoiled. It is better to use up the old and store the new. Second-hand bags should not be used tor any product that is eatable by mites, and that is going to be stored tor mote than a few weeks