Written by: Sam Cusworth. The use of plastics in agriculture is well established. Within the UK, plastics are used for a range of agricultural applications, ranging from propagation trays to greenho…
Written by Nick Buck: Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is a fruit fly native to S.E. Asia, capable of causing yield reductions by ovipositing in soft and stone fruit. Insect exclusion mesh is one metho…
Written by Catherine Walsh. Upon starting my second year as a WCTP student, it was time for me to start thinking about a non-project related work placement. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to th…
I’m Chris Wyver, and my PhD project at the University of Reading aims to understand whether flowering dates of fruit trees and flight dates of their pollinators are remaining in sync in the changing…
Written by Edward Hill-King: Today potatoes are regarded as the fourth most important crop in the world and stand as a staple of cuisines across the globe. But behind this abundant food is a long j…
Written by Patrick Skilleter. The issues associated with compacted soil have been well known for many years now, and whilst efforts are made to reduce the amount of soil compaction and the chances …
Written by Lucy Crowther. Nematodes are a hugely diverse group of microscopic, unsegmented threadworms that are found all over the globe. Although harmless to humans, these nematodes are used for o…
Written by: Jamie Pike. Over the past week, I have had several conversations about classification and taxonomy and something I have become quite familiar with throughout my PhD are the challenges s…
Congratulations to WCTP Student Kontantinos Tsiolis who, in recognition of his excellent work and application in the field of horticulture, was one of only three students to be awarded The Worshipful …
Written by Dominic Hill: My PhD project – investigating the effects of drought on potato phenotypes – involves the use of a very large, very heavy, multispectral imaging sensor. This sensor wei…
Written by Ellie Barbrook: As the first year of my PhD is coming to a close I am rounding up my first experiment. Comparing methods for quantifying mineralizable/ plant available nitrogen (N) in soils…
Written by: Keira Dymond. Pollinators are known to contribute significantly to human wellbeing. They are responsible for about 1/3 of the food we eat, and they are also vital for other wild plant sp…
Written by Nick Kuht: During last winter I was fortunate enough to be able to complete a 3-month placement with KTN, an organisation which seeks to connect and support business, government, research…
Witten by: Laine Callaghan Humans rely on pollinators. They’re essential to our survival. In fact, an estimated 90% of the world’s flowering plants and more than 75% of agricultural crops benefit …
Written by: Alex Blomfield Butterflies are sensitive environmental indicators, making them vulnerable to habitat loss and environmental change. The ecological requirements of lepidoptera are relativel…
Written by: Laura Reeves I am a first year PhD student on the Waitrose CTP programme at Reading University. My research currently focuses on how tri-trophic interactions between pears, pests and natur…