Conditions could be ripe for fusarium head blight across large swathes of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Recent rain, high humidity and warm daytime temperatures may have increased the risk of the disease in many fields of winter and spring wheat. It’s also a combination of high levels of inoculums carried over from last year in relation […] Read more
Tag Archives Crop Disease
Fusarium expected to be problem this year
High levels of the disease last year mean farmers have to watch what they seed and pay close attention to the weather
Fusarium pressure was high in last year’s prairie wheat crop, and that doesn’t bode well for this year. “With all this disease from last year, the land is now reinoculated for 2017,” said Holly Gelech of BioVision Seed Labs. “Those nodes hold a massive amount of spores … and they are going to impact the […] Read more
Elusive resistance
Farmers need to take fusarium head blight resistance ratings with a grain of salt, according to research out of Manitoba Agriculture. The research shows that varieties can perform much differently in the real world than they did in the variety registration trials where they received the official rating that is published in the provincial seed […] Read more
Video: Sowing seeds of crop destruction
MORDEN, Man. — Bob Conner sounds like a proud papa when he shows off a patch of withered, wilting, dying bean plants. “This is our white mould nursery,” he explained to a group of bean growers, agronomists, advisers and agriculture researchers. “We will be irrigating if we have to…. We want to create the ideal […] Read more
Now is the time to keep a sharp eye out for ergot
When the final tally is in, this crop year is likely to show up as wetter than most years on the Prairies, and that’s just what fungus likes. Ergot is no exception, and true to form, it has shown up in some cereal and hay fields. In addition to affecting yield and increasing dockage, ergot […] Read more
‘Big 5’ threaten canola
There are 10 to 15 diseases that can affect canola, says crop pathologist Ron Howard. There are also non-disease threats and environmental factors that can cause symptoms in canola that mimic disease. “Don’t jump to conclusions,” Howard told a July 28 Lethbridge plot tour organized by the Farming Smarter research group. “There’s a whole other […] Read more
Blackleg growing along with canola
Southern Manitoba’s canola crop is off to a good start because of a wet spring. However, the moist conditions have also prompted growers to load up their sprayers with fungicide for blackleg. “It’s everywhere, and we know that there is a level of pressure and a level of the disease that we’re probably going to […] Read more
Verticillium stripe causes concern
The Canadian canola industry has been concerned about verticillium stripe ever since the plant disease was found in Manitoba in 2014 because high infection rates will significantly reduce yields. Soil surveys conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last year found the disease in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Barbara Ziesman, Saskatchewan’s provincial […] Read more
Alberta clubroot could be making its way east: pathologist
A newly released 2015 clubroot map shows that the disease is continuing its steady march toward Saskatchewan. “Even though we don’t see a lot of disease in Saskatchewan yet, it’s banging on the door,” said Bruce Gossen, a plant pathologist with Agriculture Canada. “Our growers have to be really aware that the disease is probably […] Read more
VIDEO: Canola losing resistance
Clubroot resistant lines of canola are under siege in Alberta. In 2014, researchers identified a new strain of the disease that appeared in six fields in central Alberta in 2013. The strain, known as 5X, was able to overcome resistance built into new varieties. Last week, researchers announced that a data analysis based on a […] Read more
