Verticillium stripe — a disease first discovered in Western Canada in 2014 — appears to be taking advantage of the stress to canola plants caused by an old, familiar disease pathogen. While research to understand Verticillium longisporum in the Prairies is still in its early stages, there’s a hypothesis that its prevalence in a canola… Read More
Category: Canola School
The growing season is busy. From before the crop goes into the ground, to after it’s harvested, there are a million different things on the go. Although skipping any steps is frowned upon, one step that should never be skipped is a proper sprayer tank clean out, says Shawn Senko of the Canola Council of… Read More
When scouting for blackleg, many imagine clipping stems near swathing or harvest time. But did you know that infection actually occurs at the very beginning of the growing season? If you’re in a high risk situation, such as a tight rotation, growing the same variety, or have background resistance in the field, the disease can… Read More
Canola is not a very competitive crop in its early stages, so keeping an eye on the competition is key. We’ve covered on the Canola School why a pre-emerge herbicide pass can be valuable, but of course, the next step is to watch for weeds that have emerged with the crop. Sean McKnight, technical service… Read More
Many may think the time to check the drill for seeding rate and depth is as the drill is going over the field. While they wouldn’t be wrong, it’s also important to get out and dig through that field as the canola field germinates and emerges. Rob Macdonald of BASF joins this episode of the… Read More
Once the canola crop has emerged, keep eyes peeled for pesky early insects. Across Western Canada, the top two insects of concern tend to be cutworms and — you guessed it — flea beetles. Anique Josuttes of BASF says even though we say it year after year, the number one tool you can use is… Read More
Ideally, we want to get every crop off to the best start possible. One of the ways that this can be done in canola is through a pre-emergent herbicide, says Marissa Robitaille Balog, of the Canola Council of Canada. “Canola isn’t super competitive when it’s small,” Robitaille explains in this Canola School episode. “It’s pretty… Read More
Every year across the country, there can be a significant difference in not only what moisture looks like, but what is considered to be the “just right” of soil moisture. So, how do we determine what available moisture looks like? Jack Payne of South Country Co-op joined this Canola School episode to discuss some of… Read More
When talking about flea beetles and flea beetle pressure, it’s really all a numbers game. How can we get the least amount of insects across a wide range of plants? The key, says Jack Payne of South Country Co-op, is uniform seeding and emergence. Getting canola crop off to a quick and even start will… Read More
It’s been nearly six years since canola flower midge was first identified on the Prairies while researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada were studying what they originally thought was swede midge, a different pest seen in Eastern Canada and the U.S. Since that discovery and confirmation of a new pest in Saskatchewan and Alberta in… Read More