The 2022 version of a tool that alerts producers to emerging disease threats is now available.
The Quick Disease Reporter Tool was created by the Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network. It allows users “to make general reports of diseases in common crops” across the Prairies.
“This information can be used to identify regions where Prairie crop disease outbreaks are starting to occur and where further in-crop scouting and risk assessment are needed, especially when a fungicide application is being considered,” the website of the network states.
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And advance warning can be critical.
“For some issues such as sclerotinia stem rot in canola and fusarium head blight in small-grain cereals, the decision to spray or not to spray comes too late if symptoms in the crop are already apparent,” the website says. “In contrast, for cereal leaf spots and rusts, and foliar pulse crop diseases a producer or crop consultant can follow their development to gauge risk and the need for an initial and subsequent fungicide applications.”
The tool allows users to report suspected diseases for a number of crops and upload a photo tied to a location. For information on using the tool, go to prairiecropdisease.blogspot.com. (There is a QR code on the site that allows users to access the tool in the field with a smartphone.)
Alberta users can also contact AgCanada scientist Kelly Turkington ([email protected]) or provincial research scientist Michael Harding ([email protected]).
