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Tag Archives insect management

wheat plant waving hello
Crops, Features

FEED ME: Can well-fed plants fend off diseases and insects?

We examine an Idaho farmer’s program for crop self-defence

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Blake Matthews works with agronomist Jared Cook on an intensive cropping program that improves plant health and soil health, reduces pesticide use and somewhat increases profits. We check in with Prairie experts to see how that program’s principles could work in this region.
syrphid fly larvae attacks aphid
Crops, Features

Producers urged to protect beneficial insects

When battling crop pests, a research scientist cautions farmers not to throw the baby out with the bathwater

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Prairie crop producers need to focus on conserving beneficial insects while simultaneously managing pest insects. Many of those beneficials help promote synergies and make the best use of other ecosystem service providers.
lygus bug
Crops, Features

Lambda-cy back in the toolbox

After two years reviewing updated data, regulators rule in favour of a popular pest control product

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Prairie farmers are welcoming the return of some important insecticides to the crop protection toolbox — although there’s still some headshaking over why use of the products was interrupted in the first place, and why it took two years for the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to re-evaluate registration data. Although producers such as […] Read more
two striped grasshopper
Crops, Features

Grasshopper threat remains for Saskatchewan crops

Hot, dry conditions in mid- to late summer and well into fall were ideal for egg laying

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Grasshoppers didn’t pose a serious threat to crops in most parts of Saskatchewan in 2024 — but a leading entomologist warned growers attending the recent Saskatchewan Agronomy Update conference not to be lulled into a false sense of security about the threat they could present this coming season. James Tansey, an insect pest management specialist […] Read more
According to Hector Carcamo of AAFC, low populations of lygus bugs can actually benefit canola crops.
Canola, Features

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

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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
autonomous sprayer at dusk
Features, Forages

Night spraying for forage pest can spare pollinators

Spraying after sundown is also more effective in controlling lesser clover leaf weevil

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Glacier FarmMedia — Prairie forage growers who plan to spray for a particular problem pest, but want to avoid collateral damage to more beneficial insects, may get their best and cleanest shot in the dark. Forage and seed producers heard about the benefits of night spraying for red clover crops during the Saskatchewan Forage Seed […] Read more
Treating and not treating alternating strips of pasture with insecticides has been found to keep grasshoppers in check — while helping to maintain populations of the pest’s natural predators.
Crops, Features

Reduced-area pest spraying can still hit moving targets

The RAAT method can cut insecticide use in half and still kill most grasshoppers on pasture

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Glacier FarmMedia — Grasshoppers, as their name suggests, hop from place to place in grassy fields. Taking advantage of that natural behaviour, University of Wyoming scientists have devised a way to control grasshoppers on pastures with smaller volumes of pesticides. The method is called Reduced Agent and Area Treatments (RAAT), in which farmers apply an […] Read more
The wheat midge is orange in colour and closely resembles a mosquito because of its small size.
Crops, Spring Wheat

Going, not gone: Some hot spots remain for midge

Recent low wheat midge counts no guarantee the problem won't return

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Wheat midge populations on the Prairies have been declining for the past few years, but a researcher specializing in insect pests says farmers need to remain vigilant about the threat they pose to crops. “My advice (to farmers) is don’t turn your back on wheat midge, even if you are in a (low level) green […] Read more
A tomato harvest from planter boxes in Winnipeg.
Columns, Crops, Practical Tips

Tomatoes and onions in gardens everywhere

Part 7 of a series: On all farms, tomatoes should go into ground not previously used for tomatoes

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Tomatoes Tomatoes originated in South America from wild plants with grape-sized fruit. They were developed by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. They were first brought to Europe in the 1540s, to Italy in particular by the 1550s. North Americans were slow to pick up on tomatoes, regarding them as poisonous until almost the year […] Read more
Growing potatoes in Prairie farm gardens should be relatively easy if you’re able to anticipate and avoid the usual problems.
Columns, Potatoes, Practical Tips

Let’s meet the potato family

Part 4 of a series on Prairie farm gardens

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The potato is a member of the solanum or Solanaceae family, made up of thousands of wild and cultivated species that range from deadly nightshade to tomatoes. Commonly cultivated in farm gardens are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatillos. Members of this family also include petunias, lobelias, tobacco and common weeds such as black nightshade […] Read more

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