Rosthern, Sask. – There is a huge investment riding on a crop that’s in
the field, so decisions about whether it requires protection deserve
more than a quick inspection through a truck window.
Crop scouting means walking fields and knowing what to look for, said
Penny Pearse, Saskatchewan Agriculture plant disease specialist.
She provided a crop scouting checklist to farmers at a direct seeding
field day at Seager Wheeler Farm June 5.
Pearse focused mainly on inspecting for disease.
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Good crop scouting starts before heading to the field, she said. It
requires a knowledge of crop diseases in the area and the conditions in
which they thrive.
Many diseases are helped by wet, humid weather, but even dry years can
be a problem. For example, dry days and dew in the morning favours the
development of powdery mildew on field peas.
Plants stressed by extreme temperature, wind, poor fertility or hail
are susceptible to disease, she said.
It is also important to time scouting trips properly.
“You need to scout before the disease becomes a problem because that
way it gives you a little time and you are not rushed to make a
decision on whether to use a fungicide,” she said.
But by the time some diseases appear, it is too late to do anything.
Sclerotinia in canola and fusarium head blight in cereals fall into
this category.
The decision whether to spray for these diseases depends on the
weather, crop condition, crop stage, economics and whether the disease
has been a problem before.
Pearse suggested that several areas of a field should be scouted,
although the time-pressed farmer might want to look first at “hot
spots” such as moist hollows or headlands where the crop might be
heavier.
If a pulse crop has been seeded beside a field that had disease the
previous year, the area closest to the diseased residue is the most
endangered and should be scouted.
If damage is apparent, but it is unclear whether any disease is at
fault, a sample can be sent to provincial laboratories, she said.
Once you discover disease, you have to decide if it is worth spraying.
“You need to sit down with your calculator and determine what yield
increase you need to pay for the fungicide. If it doesn’t work on
paper, you can’t expect a miracle to happen in the field.”
Tools are available on the internet to help make fungicide spraying
decisions.
For information on spraying for sclerotinia, visit the
Agrometeorological Centre of Excellence forecast maps at
www.aceweather.ca or the Alberta Agriculture checklist at www.
agric.gov.ab.ca/agdex/100/4963204.
html.
Information on pulse diseases is available through the Agriculture
Canada decision support system at
http://paridss.usask.ca/specialcrop/pulse_diseases/.
