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Soybean planting showing leaf injury symptoms caused by a “bleaching” herbicide.
Crops, Soybeans

Pest Patrol: Crop injury from herbicide residues more common in 2020

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2020, a few farmers observed leaf injury in their soybean crops. The injury caused parts of the leaf to turn white, then yellow (see photo at top). This injury is typically caused by “bleaching” herbicides. It was odd, though, because the bleaching herbicide had been applied to the previous year’s corn crop, and it […] Read more
Figure 1 (left). These are the most often mentioned “challenging to control” weed species. In order from most common to least common: lamb’s quarters, Canada fleabane, foxtails, pigweed, common ragweed, giant ragweed, wild carrot, waterhemp, sow-thistle, velvetleaf, fall panicum, wild oats, vetch and bluegrass. Figure 2 (right). Management practices identified by agronomists that improved on-farm weed control. Management practices are ranked beginning with most often mentioned: fall weed control, residual herbicides, multiple modes of action, crop rotation, soil fertility, cover crops, scouting and two-pass herbicide applications.
Crops

Pest Patrol: Control of income-robbing weeds

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes All farmers know that poor weed control reduces income. Staying on top of income-robbing weeds requires two things: first, knowing which species cause farmers the most grief and, second, understanding which management practices consistently provide good weed control. I asked over 30 agronomists from across Ontario to share their biggest challenges and successes in weed […] Read more
Figure 1. Dog strangling vine along a roadside in York Region where it is creeping into the fenceline and bordering corn field.
Crops

Pest Patrol: Dog strangling vine control with herbicides

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes An invasive perennial weed from the milkweed family, dog strangling vine is extremely difficult to control once it gets established (Figure 1 at top). Progress has been made on biological control of this weed in Ontario through the release of Hypena opulenta, a leaf-feeding caterpillar. However, integrated strategies that include both biological and chemical methods […] Read more
Figure 3. Interveinal yellowing and browning typical of SDS infection.
Crops, Soybeans

Pest Patrol: Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome (SDS)

#PestPatrol with Albert Tenuta, OMAFRA

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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
Waterhemp towers above a soybean canopy.
Crops

Pest Patrol: How accurate are plant identification apps when it comes to weeds?

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Recommendations for plant identification apps were recently making the rounds on social media. Of course it would be nice to accurately identify an unknown weed in your field by taking a picture instead of sending it to an “expert” or a diagnostic lab. However, many of the top-rated plant identification apps are not particularly accurate […] Read more
Figure 1: The untreated control plot.
Crops

Pest Patrol: The latest word on nipplewort in cereals

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Here’s a question in my in-box. “I have a customer with a no-till rotation that has nipplewort — a lot of it. We found some pretty decent options for most crops in the rotation to clean it up before planting, but he’s got some in his wheat this year too. “What would be our best […] Read more
Figure 1. Attempted mixing of Dual II Magnum with ATS as the carrier (left) compared to successful mixing with water (right).
Crops

Pest Patrol: The importance of doing a ‘jar test’ with fertilizers and herbicides

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Each year I get more questions about mixing the liquid fertilizer, ammonium thiosulphate (ATS), with herbicides. With reductions in atmospheric sulphur deposits, Ontario research has shown positive yield responses in some crops when sulphur fertilizers are applied, so it makes sense that farmers are looking at ways to add sulphur to their crop in an […] Read more
Weed control with Authority Supreme (Groups 14 and 15), notice that overall weed control is good with the exception of Canada fleabane.
Crops, Soybeans

Pest Patrol: Weed control in IP soybeans

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes For more than a decade now, the University of Guelph and OMAFRA have been comparing the level of weed control, crop safety and grain yield associated with different herbicide programs in food grade, non-GMO soybeans, otherwise known as IP (identity preserved) soybeans. Table 1 (see below) summarizes the weed control and crop injury achieved with […] Read more
Figure 1: A weed seed’s perspective of having to germinate in the spring under a thick winter wheat canopy, which reduces the amount and quality of two key components for that weed to germinate: sunlight and heat.
Cereals, Crops

Pest Patrol: Why growing cereals is bad for weeds

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 3 minutes The benefits of growing winter wheat in a crop rotation have been well established. Long-term research at the University of Guelph has shown a 10 bu./ac. increase in corn yields and a five bu./ac. increase in soybean yields when winter wheat is grown. Other benefits, such as increased soil organic matter when cereals are grown, […] Read more
A field sample of wild oat screened with three chemical families within the Group 1 mode of action by the Tardif lab. Note there is resistance observed when Puma (a “fop”) was applied, moderate resistance when Achieve (a “dim”) was applied and moderate susceptibility when Axial (a “den”) was applied.
Cereals, Crops

Pest Patrol: Herbicide-resistant wild oats in spring cereals

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Q. Are there any solutions to control herbicide resistant wild oats in spring cereals? A. Wild oats have been an undesirable weed in spring cereal crops for many years, and its control has been limited to a handful of herbicides within the same mode of action (specifically, WSSA herbicide Group 1). Until recently, there have […] Read more

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