The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network has started tracking later-season pests such as the diamondback moth. | File photo

Pest monitoring network helps track potential threats

Website includes risk maps and information about prevalent species, scouting procedures and economic thresholds

In today’s digital world, there are millions of internet sources offering information on just about every topic under the sun. For prairie grain and oilseed growers, one of the most useful sources of information is the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network at www.prairiepest.ca. Growers can visit the website and subscribe to PPMN’s weekly pest updates. The […] Read more

Once wheat midge has established, it is unlikely to disappear. It can survive in low-lying and moist field areas and survive for a time even in unfavourable conditions. | File photo

Insect forecast shows pest potential

Wheat midge and wheat stem sawfly are among the crop pests likely to cause problems in Alberta this year, according to recently posted data and maps from the Alberta Insect Pest Monitoring Network. Although nothing replaces personal field monitoring or “boots in the field,” as the network regularly states, forecasts based on a 2020 fall […] Read more

In-field monitoring is one of the best tools for fighting cutworms.
|  File photo

Farmers warned to be vigilant for cutworms

This spring is looking like it will be early and dry, which is when it can be trickiest to manage cutworms. “When it’s early, dry and cool, growers sometimes wait too long to scout for cutworms, thinking a field is just slow to germinate or to green up because of the weather,” said Jennifer Otani, […] Read more


The orange wheat blossom midge Sitodiplosis mosellana is found in most areas of the world, including the Canadian Prairies and the northern United States.  |  Gilles San Martin/Flickr photo

Wheat midge predators find new home in Montana

A wheat midge outbreak in Montana recently sent two entomologists on a cross-border hunting trip into Saskatchewan. Gadi Reddy and Brian Thompson of Montana State University were collecting parasitoid wasps in Saskatchewan wheat fields to take back and release in the state’s wheat producing areas. “Around six years ago we started to get wheat midge […] Read more