Assessing risk is a crucial part of any producer’s pest control strategy. If you don’t know what to look for or how to look for it, you are setting yourself up for some potentially costly problems. That risk assessment starts with a good knowledge of the previous year including hotspots for activity, and overall movement… Read More
Category: Pests
The Aphid Advisor app is a decision-making tool to help determine whether a control action is warranted for Soybean Aphids (Aphis glycines) on soybeans in the province of Ontario, Canada. This app uses aphid and natural enemy numbers, as well as expected population growth rates, to indicate whether there are enough natural enemies to keep… Read More
This morning Monsanto released a statement confirming the three fields in southern Alberta contain glyphosate resistant kochia. Not surprising considering that the growth of glyphosate resistant weeds in North America is on the rise. This new case though comes with a new twist that is different than other situations. According to the Monsanto press release,… Read More
The clubroot problem is growing, and it’s not a matter that can be avoided any more. So what has the canola industry at large learned from clubroot? I discussed the clubroot issue with Clint Jurke of the Canola Council of Canada and found a number of things that we’ve learned from the experience. First, we have found that… Read More
This years harvest samples show an alarming rise in ergot infection in wheat crops. The information comes from a Canadian Grain Commission report that shows upwards of 20 percent of western Canadian wheat crops have some degree of ergot infection. Ergot tolerances are very tight due to the toxic qualities of the ergot body that… Read More
RealAgriculture.com is happy to present a new feature segment we call “Under the Microscope”. We have partnered with BioVision Seed Labs to educate and inform producers with respect to what goes on inside the seed lab and hopefully take some of the mystery out of the process. In the first episode we talk to Holly… Read More
Recent reports from the Canola Council of Canada have shown the slow movement of clubroot into previously uninfected areas of Alberta. That information, while concerning, should not really come as a surprise to farmers in the province. Conditions have been optimal for the speed of clubroot in Alberta this year based on the very wet… Read More
It has been a few years for some since they have had to worry about soybean aphids, let alone make a spray decision. So I want to cover off the key points you need to know through some of the repeat questions that have been coming in. Anyone with more questions after reading this, please… Read More
A big part of a successful pest control strategy depends on pests behaving in a certain way and us basing our control measures on that. When an insect pest deviates from typical behaviour, it can in some cases, negate any control strategy we implement based on that behaviour. Things like emergence patterns, feeding habits,… Read More
This episode of the Wheat School can be summarized as a bit of a fusarium clinic. Peter Johnson, Cereal Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs gives us a first hand look at the difference in resistance between older wheat varieties and some of the newer generations. Here we get confirmation… Read More
Lygus bugs are a pest that are not particularly picky when it comes to what they feed on. The bug has over 300 known host plants, and feeds on the sap of a plants new growth and reproductive tissue. Unfortunately, among the long list of plants they like to feed on is the canola plant…. Read More
In this episode of the Wheat School, we talk to Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada Plant Pathologist Kelly Turkington about the elevated risk of fusarium in parts of Alberta. Fusarium in Alberta is nothing new, however, weather conditions in Alberta in June and July have made the potential for infection that much greater. That abundance of… Read More
When it comes to disease problems in wheat, the conditions have been pretty favourable across most of the prairies. With the exception of the past week or so, temperatures have been below average and moisture has been above average across the west. Those factors elevate the risk of fungal disease, making scouting and control extremely… Read More
The start of the 2011 growing season was challenging to say the least. Wet weather and unseasonably cool conditions in the majority of the west had producers stressed out and wondering if they would get a crop in at all. That was the case in fact in large areas of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Fast forward… Read More
The Cereal Leaf beetle seems to be rearing its ugly head in winter and spring wheat fields near Bolton, Stayner and Seaforth, Ontario. Tracey Baute, OMAFRA Entomologist and author of Bautebugblog.com reports threshold levels of the pest in those fields, with significant feeding seen on the flagleaf. Baute recommends spraying infested winter wheat with insecticides… Read More