According to speakers at last week’s Canola Galla in Penhold, AB, a single gram of soil (roughly the size of a Smartie) can contain hundreds — if not thousands or even millions — of resting clubroot spores. And, those resting spores can survive up to 20 years in the soil, spreading by catching rides on wind, water,… Read More

After ramping up efforts to test for clubroot disease over the last year, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has confirmed the presence of the nasty soil-borne pest in 48 fields within the province. The provincial ag department has released an updated map showing positive clubroot cases by rural municipality (see below), while noting “positive findings… Read More

Unless it’s too late and you’ve already found clubroot symptoms in your canola, you won’t know whether you have it without getting tested. This Canola School episode focuses on testing for clubroot and how to go about determining whether clubroot spores are present in the soil. Finding the nasty soil-borne disease when spore loads are still low… Read More

Resistance to clubroot disease in canola is deteriorating across Alberta, according to research conducted by Alberta Agriculture and the University of Alberta. Multiple pathotypes are now suspected to be responsible for infecting canola varieties that were previously deemed resistant to the soil-borne disease. The presence of a different clubroot pathotype that could infect resistant varieties… Read More

With findings of clubroot disease in parts of Western Canada where it has not been a problem before, at what point should a farmer in these new clubroot areas switch to growing clubroot-resistant canola varieties? To make that decision, you must first assess and prioritize the risks to your canola, suggests Anastasia Kubinec, oilseed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this Canola… Read More

Crop rotation remains the most powerful tool in the fight against clubroot disease in Western Canadian canola fields, even with new resistant varieties being brought to market. As part of this episode of the Agronomy Geeks West podcast, host Lyndsey Smith caught up with Dr. Stephen Strelkov of the University of Alberta. His work documenting… Read More

A joint federal-provincial funding announcement has pledged $250,000 in research funding and $969,000 for equipment for a Manitoba lab aimed at identifying and addressing problems caused by canola diseases and pests. Research funding is provided under Growing Forward 2 – Growing Actions and will be used to take samples from across the province to determine… Read More