Winter 2022 and our IPM Team!

Our field research program at Beaverlodge hinges on technical support - these are people who implement the science we are fortunate to be supported to do in the Peace River region!

This winter, our program has new people hired who are rapidly learning a LOT about how to process and begin to identify the more than 110 arthropod species that are active in annual and perennial field crops  grown throughout the region. Learn more about Jordon, Vicky, Tessa, and Tanya. They join Shelby, Amanda, and me and we're the IPM Team for the winter of 2022!

Links from 2020 Peace Agronomy Update

Links from 2020 Peace Agronomy Update, Fairview AB, January 14, 2020.
#PeaceAgronomyUpdate2020

ALBERTA Farmer-led research engagement
Online survey by January 31, 2020
Public engagement session January 17, 2020, 2-4 pm, Grande Prairie Regional College

Alberta Pest Surveillance Network's Annual Risk and Forecast Maps
2020 Grasshopper forecast map
2020 Wheat midge forecast map (excerpt of Peace region map)
2019 Bertha armyworm map
2019 Pea leaf weevil map
2019 Cabbage seedpod weevil map
Contact Shelley.Barkley@gov.ab.ca to register fields AND support to in-field monitoring.

If you have LIVE slugs in your field crops in 2020 and will are willing to ship, email slugs@ualberta.ca

If you want to receive Alberta Agriculture's Ralph Wright's agricultural meteorological updates, email him to subscribe at Ralph.Wright@gov.ab.ca OR the maps eventually get put up at: https://open.alberta.ca/publications/agricultural-moisture-situation-update

Other Useful Resources
Canadian Grain Commission’s Stored Insect Pest Keys
Alberta Pest Monitoring Network's Homepage 
Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Blog
Field Heroes information
Field Heroes YouTube channel
Twitter   #PPMNblog posted by @bugs5132

Field sanitation protocol to manage soil-borne diseases

The distribution of clubroot in the Peace River region again increased in 2018 from the Big Lakes County (August 2017) to include additional sites in northwestern Alberta:
• Please access the current clubroot map here to learn more about where this disease occurs within Alberta.
• Refer to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's website for more information on clubroot. 

The IPM Program has, since 2004, used booties and sterilized field equipment using bleach and ethyl alcohol.  From 2017-2018, field sanitation involved the use of Virkon and bleach and since 2019 involved bleach only.  As of May 2021, our field sanitation protocol includes:

* AAFC staff continue to operate marked vehicles when visiting fields to identify ourselves.

* AAFC vehicles continue to park on the road OR on pull-ins – we NEVER drive into a field!

* We reduce field work activities on rainy days to avoid tracking mud.

* We are using sodium hypochlorite or bleach (2%) to sanitize both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* Rubber boots are worn and sterilized using bleach both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* Disposable booties are worn over sterilized rubber boots prior to exiting the vehicle.

* All booties are bagged then sterilized using an autoclave.

* Vehicle tires, wheels, and wheel-wells are sanitized using bleach both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* Any equipment in contact with the soil (eg trowels, soil samplers) is sanitized using bleach.

* We carry multiples of our small field equipment to allow for soaking in bleach and/or sterilization using an autoclave.
* All field equipment (e.g., spades, trowels, soil core samplers) is soaked in bleach after use in each field.

* AAFC vehicles are washed intermittently at commercial car washes to prevent the introduction of clubroot onto our research field plots at Beaverlodge AB.

Please contact us if you have questions or concerns!  If you wish to personally see our sanitization efforts in action, we can arrange it!  You can reach Amanda Jorgensen, Shelby Dufton, or Jennifer Otani by e-mail.

We appreciate the value of all agricultural fields and thank our growers for allowing us to conduct  research in their fields. We appreciate their ongoing support and commitment to insect pest management.  We also want the agricultural industry to be aware and confident that we continue to do our utmost to ensure every field is protected now and in the future. 

Field sanitation protocol in place to continue to manage clubroot and other soil-borne diseases

We are updating you on a new situation: Clubroot was confirmed in August 2017 within the Peace River region (in Big Lakes County). Refer to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's website for more information on clubroot. 

The IPM Program has, since 2004, used booties and sterilized field equipment using bleach and ethyl alcohol but we have now updated and implemented increased our sanitation methods for every field as of August 31, 2017:

* AAFC Staff continue to operate marked vehicles when visiting fields to identify ourselves.

* AAFC Vehicles continue to park on the road OR on pull-ins – we NEVER drive into a field!

* NEW -  We will reduce field work on rainy days to avoid tracking mud.

* NEW – We are using Virkon (2%), a disinfectant tested and routinely used by Albertan pathologists to manage clubroot, to sanitize both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* NEW – Rubber boots are worn and sterilized using Virkon both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* Disposable booties are worn over sterilized rubber boots prior to exiting the vehicle.

* All booties are bagged then sterilized using an autoclave.

* NEW – Vehicle tires, wheels, and wheel-wells are sanitized using Virkon both AT and BETWEEN each field.

* Any equipment in contact with the soil (eg trowels, soil samplers) is sanitized using Virkon following usage.

* All field equipment (e.g., spades, trowels, soil core samplers) are soaked in Virkon after use in each field.

* NEW – We are purchasing multiples of our equipment to allow for soaking in Virkon and/or sterilization using an autoclave.

* NEW – AAFC vehicles will be washed intermittently at commercial car washes to prevent introduction of clubroot onto our research field plots at Beaverlodge AB.

Please let us know if you have questions or concerns!  If you wish to personally see our sanitization efforts in action, please let us know so we can arrange it!  You can reach us by e-mail at Amanda.Jorgensen@canada.ca or Jennifer.Otani@agr.gc.ca. 

We appreciate the value of all agricultural fields and thank our growers for allowing us to conduct  research in their fields. We appreciate their ongoing support and commitment to pest management.  We also want the agricultural industry to be aware and confident that we continue to do our utmost to ensure every field is protected now and for the future. 

2016 Alberta Cutworm Reporting Tool and Map

Reminder please for Albertan help!

Please ask growers to report their cutworms on the Alberta Agriculture & Forestry's live Cutworm reporting tool.

Every entry is important because it helps estimate what kind of cutworm problem we have now and into 2017.  Once data entry occurs, your growers can view the live 2016 cutworm map.

A screen shot of the live map is below (retrieved 10May2016):

And here is a screen shot of the updated map (retrieved 22Jun2016):

A summary of the nominal and economic thresholds for cutworms has been pulled together by Dr. John Gavloski who is the provincial entomologist for Manitoba.  Access the thresholds and important cutworm information here.

The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network has been posting Cutworm information and monitoring tips within the 2016 Weekly Updates which is comprised of a series of Posts updated each week during the growing season.

More information about cutworms can be found by accessing the pages from the new "Field Crop and Forage Pests and their Natural Enemies in Western Canada: Identification and Field Guide".  An excerpt of ONLY Cutworm pages from the guide have been posted as a downloadable PDF below to support in-field monitoring.

 


More information about the new guide is posted here including how to download a PDF copy of the entire guide in either English or French.