Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 28, 2022] Aster yellows is a sneaky disease, arriving in canola via aster leafhoppers infected with the parasitic organism aster yellows phytoplasma (AYP). The leafhoppers spread the disease to plants as they feed, but the symptoms don’t show up until the crop is too far gone to treat. In bad years — which […] Read more
Heading off aster yellows in field crops
A new rapid test may help diagnose the disease in time to take action with fungicide
Don’t be a silly one, scout for verticillium
Reading Time: 4 minutes On Aug. 10, 2020, Brad Crammond noticed some sudden and premature die-off in a seemingly healthy field of canola. “We’ve had issues with blackleg in the past,” says the farmer from Austin, Man., “and I could tell this was something different.” So he called Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist Angela Brackenreed to take a […] Read more
Tar spot continues to spread in Ontario
The infected region has expanded from five counties in 2020 to 19 in 2021
Reading Time: 5 minutes Tar spot was first identified in the U.S. in 2015. By 2018, it was beginning to make news in Canada, and every year since then has brought more evidence of its devastating potential. Alarmingly in late 2021, videos from Midwest U.S.-based agronomists showed infected crops with brown, wilted leaves, and stalks so stressed and weak […] Read more
What’s up with fungicide resistance?
Resistance is hardly top of mind for most growers, but there are signs it should be climbing the ladder
Reading Time: 6 minutes Comparing resistance in fungicides to herbicides is like listening for a whisper above the noise of a pressure washer, or you could say the threat of disease resistance in major crops is advancing at a creep, not a run, as it is in weeds. Increasingly, though, that’s a challenge facing agronomists, advisors and those in […] Read more
Sudden death syndrome threat in soybeans is climbing
SDS is attracting more attention as a companion of soybean cyst nematodes
Reading Time: 7 minutes In the list of pests and diseases affecting soybean production in Eastern Canada, there are widespread culprits — like soybean cyst nematode (SCN) — and regionalized, almost annual challenges, such as white mould in Eastern Ontario. Nor to be forgotten are diseases like Phytophthora and Rhizoctonia root rots, which have been less frequent in the […] Read more
Swift removal of infected plants key for clubroot control
You can kill the plant, but the pathogens remain to continue infecting the soil
Reading Time: 4 minutes A new study shows that even after a plant infected with clubroot has been killed with a herbicide and frozen to ensure all plant cells are dead, the pathogen survives and continues to mature. The study led by Mary Ruth McDonald, a professor of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, and Agriculture Canada scientist […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome (SDS)
#PestPatrol with Albert Tenuta, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 2 minutes The dry conditions in 2020 have been favourable for soybean cyst nematode (SCN) infection. A reminder that you can look for SCN by digging up plants with a shovel and gently removing soil and examining roots for the presence of the small white to yellow cysts (Figure 1 below). Cysts are considerably smaller (1 mm) […] Read more
How to keep sclerotinia infection to less than five per cent
New research shows fungicide applied at or just after 20 per cent flowering is still the best way to stop sclerotinia stem rot from shredding canola profits
Reading Time: 6 minutes Like a detective piecing together the timeline of a crime, Dwayne Hegedus has played and replayed the sequence of events from when a sclerotinia-infested petal drops onto a canola leaf to the all-is-lost cleaving of the cuticle. The scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon now knows, genetically, what arrows the pathogen shoots and […] Read more
Disease considerations for a late and wet spring
In the west, it could mean more clubroot transmission. In the east, growers should be concerned about phytophthora in soybeans
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the time of writing, spring moisture conditions in Eastern Canada remained to be seen, but there wasn’t much question about the Prairies — many growers would still be dealing with wet soils and late planting due to rain and snow from last fall. For example, by early October the Western Cypress Hills area of […] Read more
Soybean and corn disease threats in Eastern Canada
Growers will need to use all their experience, best management practices and new tools to successfully combat disease in 2020
Reading Time: 4 minutes Another crop season is upon us and certain disease threats stand out in soybeans and corn in Eastern Canada. “SDS (sudden death syndrome) is expected to worsen in southwestern Ontario soybeans and root rot could be a serious concern this year if the conditions at planting time are wet,” notes Dr. Owen Wally, research scientist […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
