This year I have travelled extensively around Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and I have not seen a single canola plant with aster yellows (AY). A friend of mine said she found one plant only, in Saskatchewan in canola. Contrast this with 2012 when this phytoplasmic disease of canola, wheat, barley, flax, potatoes and probably all […] Read more
Looking for disaster yellows
There has been few incidences this year, but aster yellows can cause high yield losses
Don’t blame ergot on the weather
Copper deficiency leads to the development of many diseases in cereal crops
If you’re a pedigreed seed grower and you’ve discovered that one of your seed fields, either wheat or barley, is infested with ergot, you have a problem but it’s not what most, if not all of you think. Don’t blame it on a common diagnosis of cold, wet growing conditions. It’s more likely caused by […] Read more
Where have these funguys gone?
Herbicides and “new” crops may play a role in controlling disease
Back in the 1970s and ’80s when I worked for Alberta Agriculture, take-all of wheat and barley and snow mould of winter wheat were hot topics on the Canadian prairies. Yield losses from these two diseases were considerable. Wet summers were bad for take-all, while deep snow winters often led to snow mould. I remember […] Read more
15 Ways To Prevent Or Manage FHB
Fusarium head blight (Fusarium graminearumor scab) will be a serious problem if humidity and temperatures are high (25 to 30 C) from just prior to wheat head emergence through to head fill. Infection will occur at cooler temperatures, if high humidity persists for longer than 72 hours. Given the high moisture level throughout Manitoba and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
