SCOTT, Sask. — Saskatchewan has had its share of problems with insect pests this year.
Midge is one of the bugs causing difficulties, says Scott Hartley, an insect and vertebrate pest specialist with the provincial agriculture ministry.
“Right now we’re in the middle of midge emergence,” he told a field day at Agriculture Canada’s Scott Research Farm July 13.
Aphids have also been a problem.
He is concerned that this year’s moisture coupled with warmth could provide an ideal breeding ground for the pest.
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Hartley expected that aphid infestations would primarily affect peas but said canaryseed and lentils are also vulnerable.
North Dakota is seeing aphids in soybeans and small cereals, he added.
Hartley said a bad year for cutworms should almost be over because numbers typically drop off by the end of June or early July.
Saskatchewan Agriculture is reporting an increase in the number of bertha armyworm moth adults, but Hartley said it should be a few more years before they become a significant problem in the province.
Bertha armyworms are typically a cyclical pest. Numbers peak every eight to 10 years, and Hartley said the last such peak was in 2005.
He said diamondback moth numbers are high in Manitoba and Alberta, but there is no indication that populations are increasing in Saskatchewan.
Seedpod weevils remain a problem in southwestern Saskatchewan, but Hartley said their dispersion is largely limited by the South Saskatchewan River.
Perhaps the biggest relief Hartley delivered to producers was his assertion that sawfly numbers have declined in the province. He said this was due to wet conditions but could also be linked to the widespread adoption of solid-stem wheat varieties such as AC Lillian.
“That pith in there does prevent movement of the sawfly up and down the stem.”
