Knowing what kind of blight is in your pea field — before firing up the sprayer — can help you avoid an expensive mistake, as just one of the two common blights affecting peas can be treated with a fungicide.
Tag Archives crop scouting
Timing a fungicide for mycosphaerella blight in peas
It pays to know whether and when to spray
How farmers can help map, monitor and forecast pest outbreaks
Researchers can help producers develop pest management plans — but farmers’ help is needed to know which pests are where, and how many
Prairie scientists conducting research into field crop pests can always use more help from producers — whether it’s by granting access to farmland, or just by reporting what they see in the field.
Steps to stop blackleg in canola
Agronomists and canola growers have many proven steps to manage blackleg disease in canola. Genetic resistance has been an extremely effective tool, and will remain so — as long as that resistance matches the blackleg races in a field
Blackleg disease, caused by the pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans, is common in canola across the Prairies. It can cause very high yield loss in cultivars susceptible to the predominant blackleg races in a field. The two best defences are: Seed treatment and early-season fungicides can also help, especially if the first two are compromised. This article will […] Read more
Attend against aphids
Multiplication won’t take long, so if you see just a few, keep checking
Aphids may be nearly invisible to the untrained eye, but a research scientist who specializes in crop-destroying insects warns Saskatchewan farmers not to turn their backs on the tiny, pear-shaped pests. Tyler Wist, a field crops entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, spoke about the threat aphids can pose to some crops at the […] Read more
Agronomist looks to give back to industry
Elliott Hildebrand sees a future for more intercropping and plant root simulator probes
Like many kids who grow up on the farm, Elliott Hildebrand fell in love with agriculture when he was a child. When there wasn’t an opportunity to work on the farm as an adult, he pursued the next best thing — agronomy. Now he has his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in agronomy from the […] Read more
On-farm weather stations help guide management decisions
The return on investment can come from improved efficiency, helping growers get the most out of a crop under variable growing conditions
An on-farm weather station doesn’t make the crop grow better, but farmers and agrologists using the technology say real-time information about precipitation, wind, temperature and soil moisture reserves can help guide decisions about if or when to apply crop inputs — and provide a good indication of what yield they might expect. Field scouting is […] Read more
When a pest isn’t a pest
Finding flea beetles and lygus bugs in canola fields doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a problem. Sometimes lygus bugs can even benefit the crop
Insect pests aren’t always true pests. Hard as it may be for farmers to imagine, sometimes the insects do more good than harm. That was a key message from an April online seminar on insect control in canola organized by the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. The three panelists — Alejandro […] Read more
Conditions ripe for winter cereal wreck
Snow cover decline, temperature flux, pooling, freezing all potential problems
Glacier FarmMedia — Minimal snow cover, frigid temperatures in mid-January and above-average temperatures after that may have set the stage for winterkill in winter crops. The risk is high enough to cause concern among crop specialists. “The eastern Prairies are in a little bit better shape than (Saskatchewan and Alberta) but there’s huge swaths that […] Read more
Checking crops from orbit may be underused option
The available satellite imagery of our crops may be an underused tool for field analysis
Glacier FarmMedia — Last fall on her farm near Holland, Man., Anastasia Kubinec was struggling with a decision about a canola field. In one part of the of the field, it seemed like the crop was ready to combine. But other areas were possibly too wet and too green. One option was going in with […] Read more
‘Perfect storm’ for grasshoppers
The conditions are right for pest-type grasshoppers in Saskatchewan. Consider both insecticides and cultural controls
A provincial insect management specialist says grasshoppers could pose a significant challenge for farmers in Saskatchewan this season. During a June 14 webinar offering advice on managing grasshopper populations, James Tansey of Saskatchewan Agriculture said, “we’ve got a bit of a perfect storm for grasshoppers this year.” According to Tansey, warm and dry conditions in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
