We finished our Annual Canola
Survey of the Peace on July 8th but we are processing the samples
from the 156 sites. Please watch our IPM Lab Blog
though – I will post our survey results there first.
Earlier this spring, there were
cutworms and fields in the Peace were sprayed to try and manage that – I have
no idea the number of acres though. To date, our monitoring has shown low
DBM and BAW pheromone count interceptions. Wheat midge was forecasted to
be lower populations through most of the entire Peace this season, however,
midge flight synchronized fairly well with wheat anthesis in the south
Peace. We have seen some higher lygus bug numbers in some of our canola
survey samples but the persistent rain throughout June-present has been a major
factor in all our field crops. More specifically, we aren’t seeing the
typical nymph densities that we’d expect in the canola so far (because we know
many have died owing to rain falling every 4-6 days from bolting through to
early flowering) – stay tuned for the survey results though. Grasshoppers
are present but the situation is nowhere near the high risk originally
forecasted back in January for the Peace.
Almost all the fields we’ve seen
around the south and north Peace have received some fungicide whether it’s been
wheat, peas, or canola. As Jim notes, producers are sometimes keen to
tank-mix insecticide with the fungicide application and only the agricultural
industry people will know those statistics on what product has been sold so far
this season.
