canola diseases Archives

Canola plant with verticillium stripe symptoms.

Researchers scramble to understand verticillium in Canada

While research into verticillium stripe is still in its infancy, agronomists are recommending crop rotation and better field practices

By Don Norman March 7, 2025

Verticillium is a newcomer among Canadian crop diseases, and according to Justine Cornelsen, agronomic and regulatory services manager with BrettYoung Seeds, researchers still have much to learn about it. “It was first identified on a farm south of Winnipeg in 2014, but it has now been identified in many other production regions,” she says. As […] Read more

Microsclerotia growing on the skin of the outer stem, which is peeling back.

GrowPro

A crash course on verticillium stripe

It’s important to know how to identify this newcomer to western Canadian canola crops and distinguish it from other diseases

By Jay Whetter November 5, 2024

Verticillium stripe of canola is causing yield loss in Manitoba and probably other areas of the Prairies. And it’s getting worse. The disease, caused by the Verticillium longisporum pathogen, was first reported in Manitoba in 2014. In 2015, Canadian Food Inspection Agency surveyors found the pathogen in six provinces, including all three Prairie provinces. The […] Read more

Canola, Crops

Back to blackleg

Lab-testing canola stem samples can help verify the disease and its specific race

By Jeff Melchior October 9, 2024

Everyone knows blackleg has been all over canola crops throughout Western Canada this year — but producers will still have to wait a bit to find out just how much the fungal disease has impacted Prairie crops. That’s why Clint Jurke, agronomy director with the Canola Council of Canada, is waiting until survey data is […] Read more

Canola, Canola Production Guide, Guides

Canola’s changing climes

Trends in the Prairies’ climate should generally be net good for canola crops, even as pest pressures here adjust accordingly

By Bruce Burnett September 3, 2024

Canola cropping patterns in the Prairies may have to adapt to climate change in the coming years — but the changes should be relatively positive for production. Canola area continues to be the leader in Western Canada, with a total of 21.9 million acres sown this year according to Statistics Canada. This is over 3.2 […] Read more

Cross-section of an infected canola plant root. Verticillium fungus spreads upward through a plant’s vascular tissues and can create this sort of discolouration, which looks somewhat similar to blackleg.

Canola, Columns, Practical Tips

Keep verticillium stripe in focus this year

Practical Research: Don't let the fungi hitchhike between fields on your equipment -- or anyone else's

By Ieuan Evans May 9, 2024

Where did such a destructive disease come from? Verticillium stripe was first reported in Manitoba in 2014, some 10 years ago. The fungus, Verticillium longisporum, has now been confirmed present in six provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. In a survey in 2023 across Manitoba, verticillium stripe was found in 38 per […] Read more

Clubroot will vary depending on soil conditions. From left to right: <1,000 resting spores / severity rank 0, 1,000 resting spores / severity rank 1, 10,000 resting spores / severity rank 1, 100,000 resting spores / severity rank 2, 1,000,000 resting spores / severity rank 2.

Canola, Crops, Features

Clubroot is here. Deal with it

Use best practices and management to keep it low and localized

By Lee Hart February 13, 2019

Be proactive against clubroot in canola. It is not a matter of it might be coming, it is already here. If it hasn’t affected your county or your farm yet, the question isn’t about if it will appear, but really about when. That’s the message Alberta farmers were hearing late last year, as part of […] Read more

Canola growers face the reality that the most profitable field crop they grow is in grave danger.

Canola, Crops

Clubbed to debt: the rise of clubroot

Protect your best cash crop from the hazards of clubroot by taking these precautions 

By Ieuan Evans October 12, 2018

I first ran into the clubroot disease of crucifers on the farm where I grew up in West Wales. Farmers did not know much about the disease other than it came from purchasing cabbage transplants and it was most destructive on sour soil, a term for acidic soil. Control was stated to involve heavy liming […] Read more

University of Alberta researcher Victor Manoli tours International Clubroot Workshop delegates through his research work at Alberta’s Crop  Diversification Centre North. Manoli has infected these plants with clubroot spores to enable future study.

Canola, Features

No silver bullet for international disease

Scientists from around the globe met in Edmonton to discuss the latest on clubroot

By Leeann Minogue October 5, 2018

The world’s top canola researchers and agronomists met in Edmonton in early August to talk about their work on the pathogen that’s lowering canola yields throughout Alberta and spreading to the rest of the Prairies. While researchers at the International Clubroot Workshop discussed the scientific research underway, farmer delegates were disappointed to hear there is […] Read more

Canola, News

Clubroot can damage more than just the bottom line

Along with economic and agronomic problems, clubroot causes emotional damage

By Lisa Guenther February 6, 2018

Clubroot is a potentially devastating disease for canola growers in Western Canada. Severely infested fields may not be able to grow canola in the foreseeable future. Less-severe fields may see yield drops without a change in farming practices. That adds up to a financial hit for affected farmers. But while the economic and agronomic realities […] Read more

Canola, Crops, Wheat & Chaff

Blackleg management and agronomy

Agronomy tips... from the field

By Michael Hutton May 15, 2017

Three main tools go into a successful blackleg management strategy in canola: seed genetics, seed treatment and foliar fungicides. Blackleg genetics, along with seed treatments, can help you get into the season and established while protecting seedlings from blackleg for the first few weeks after seeding. At the two- to six-leaf stage, consider using a […] Read more

U.S. grains: Corn rebounds from contract lows on short covering, bargain buying

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures come down from highs

Entomologist tests trap crops and marigolds to repel flea beetles at an Ag in Motion

GFM Network News