Reading Time: < 1 minute The province received variable precipitation this spring which had pathologists and producers expecting the arrival of members of the leaf spot complex. However, Kelly Turkington with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lacombe Research and Development Centre said they may have been scorched by the July heat wave.
Cereal leaf disease minimal in Alberta but be aware of blown-in stripe rust
Detecting stripe rust in wheat before it strikes
Resistance is low in current varieties. An early warning system could allow for fungicide application only when needed
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stripe rust is wily and tough. For the longest time, Canadian farmers could depend on cold winters and a fairly hot, dry summer climate to keep it at bay. But stripe rust is also highly adaptable and around 2000, scientists noticed a change. “Pathogens always evolve,” says André Laroche, a research scientist with Agriculture and […] Read more
Greig: Lessons learned from Ontario crops’ pest pressures
Reading Time: 4 minutes The warmer winter and subsequent drought defined the 2016 cropping season in Ontario, resulting in more disease and insect pressures and then challenges managing them. Three agronomists gave an overview of the 2016 cropping season at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, outlining challenges and wins for the year. Leanne Freitag, Cargill’s manager of agronomy […] Read more
Rain increases disease pressures on eastern Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The recent batch of wet weather across parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been a welcome relief to some fields that were suffering from excess dryness. However, soggy conditions have also enabled certain disease pressures to rear their ugly head, according to some government specialists. “Root rot is showing up in peas […] Read more
Pearce: Stripe rust in winter wheat is Ontario’s biggest threat
Reading Time: 3 minutes Normally, stripe rust in winter wheat isn’t a huge problem for growers in Eastern Canada, and particularly in Ontario — at least, not at this stage of the growing season — but the 2016 growing season isn’t shaping up to be “normal” either. For now, the immediate challenge before growers is to get out and […] Read more
Crop diseases take a bit of a break in 2015
Drier conditions this past season kept a lid on most crop diseases — but this is probably just a brief respite until environmental conditions line up again
Reading Time: 8 minutes The bad news is that dry weather cut yields across much of the Prairies in 2015. The consolation? This same weather kept fungal diseases in check. In fact, areas that were in the sweet spot of lower pressure but enough rainfall to carry yield were rewarded with exceptional crop quality. Country Guide recently spoke to […] Read more
Manitoba rust diseases dissipate as fusarium appears
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– The spread of leaf and stripe rust in southern Manitoba appears to be over. The diseases, which generally target cereal crops, were thought to have blown up from the northern U.S. in late spring. Fields near Carman and Killarney both tested positive for rust in winter and spring wheat. Recent warm weather, […] Read more
Rusts enter southern Manitoba from U.S.
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — While fusarium head blight and wheat streak mosaic have already popped up in Manitoba fields, a new strain of disease is making its presence felt in the province’s south. Stripe rust and leaf rust appear to have blown in from the United States. Pam de Rocquigny of Manitoba’s agriculture department said the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
