Reading Time: 2 minutes Cold temperatures hitting Manitoba won’t do much to hurt flea beetles overwintering, leaving the pest as a major concern for canola farmers heading into spring. Flea beetle numbers were quite high in Manitoba in 2018, making them “probably at the top of the list of (insects) to watch out for this year,” said John Gavloski, […] Read more
Flea beetles top Manitoba’s 2019 watch list
Neonic phase-out may limit flea beetle control tools
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The phasing out of neonicotinoid seed treatments in Canada may cause problems for the country’s canola growers when dealing with flea beetles — but alternatives pesticides could fill the gap. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is proposing that two neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, be phased out over the next […] Read more
Flea beetles take advantage of late seeding
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — A heat wave in late May and a slow start to the planting season have created some ideal conditions for flea beetles. Pest specialists in Saskatchewan and Manitoba say farmers have already begun to spray for the beetle in certain locations. “They’ve been getting good conditions to feed under, they like it […] Read more
Species-specific crop protection
RNA interference provides a new method of pest control, using tools so precise they hit only the target insect or disease
Reading Time: 4 minutes “We like to call sclerotinia the bully,” says Mark Belmonte. And stopping a bully is not easy. The pathogen attacks fast, it moves quickly through the plant and it can do heavy yield damage right away. “Because it acts with brute force and involves multiple genes, sclerotinia is difficult to study and get a good […] Read more
Are you ready to scout for and control flea beetles?
Flea beetles move fast and do a lot of damage. Be sure to keep ahead of them in your canola crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes Flea beetles are easily the most chronically damaging insect pest in western Canadian canola. Damage results in yield losses estimated at $300 million each year. To limit damage, experts recommend acting early when an average level of defoliation level of 25 per cent or more is reached. Early action necessary According to Greg Sekulic, an […] Read more
Help the insects eat each other
Insecticides don’t just kill the bad bugs — they also kill their enemies
Reading Time: 4 minutes Terry Young has never sprayed for insects. “I’ve had the odd bertha and lygus in my canola and wheat midge in my wheat, but they haven’t been an issue for as long as I’ve been farming, which is 30-plus years now,” he says. Young farms at Lacombe, which is one of the most productive agricultural […] Read more
Thirsty Alta. crops could use a drink, analyst says
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Alberta’s dry weather and cooler nights have hit some crops in the province hard, but one specialist says he isn’t worried yet. Neil Whatley, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry in Stettler, said only some parts of the province have seen rain. “There’s no general rain, just showers. Where there’s […] Read more
Prairie farmers scramble for canola seed after frost
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters –– Western Canadian farmers are scrambling to find scarce canola seed as they reseed crops snuffed out by frost and insects. Farmers in the region have until mid- to late June to plant ahead of insurance deadlines, but the later they sow canola, the higher the risk of damage later from heat […] Read more
Cutworm, flea beetle pressure piling on Prairie crops
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — High levels of cutworms and flea beetles are damaging crops in Western Canada this spring, according to Manitoba’s crop entomologist. Manitoba growers started noticing damage from cutworms this week, said John Gavloski, extension entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development in Carman. “They were there in the fields, but they were […] Read more
Controlling crop weeds with beneficial insects
Flea beetles that eat leafy spurge are only the first wave of biological weed control
Reading Time: 5 minutes What is it about weeds? No matter how hard you try to eradicate them, they always come back. Worse still, each method of weed control has its drawbacks. Spraying with herbicides can lead to weed resistance if the same product is used continuously. Tillage can result in soil erosion (remember the Dirty ’30s?), and although […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
