Reading Time: 4 minutes Joe Ripley knew something was up in his wheat field — but he had no idea what. “We just had patches where it was very poor quality and there was hardly anything there,” said the grain and cattle producer from the Spring Coulee area in southern Alberta. “We didn’t realize what it was for a […] Read more
This hidden crop menace is stealthy, destructive and a devil to get rid of
There’s a wide variety of wireworms, their impact varies greatly, and there’s no effective control
Grasshopper numbers up last year, but outbreak may not occur
Hopper numbers tend to go in a two-year cycle and so this may be a ‘low’ year, says forecast
Reading Time: 2 minutes Not surprisingly, grasshoppers loved last year’s dry conditions, especially in the south, says a provincial outlook for the pest. “In southern Alberta, dry summers are resulting in increasing grasshopper numbers,” says an article from the provincial Ag Ministry detailing last year’s grasshopper survey and this year’s outlook. “This is especially true in the counties south […] Read more
Agronomy conference recap now available online
Reading Time: < 1 minute Slides from presenters at Agronomy Update in January are now being posted online. So far, there are slides from presentations on weed control, the “lygus apocalypse,” effect of heat and drought on pests, fungicide application, soil sensors, how pulses impact soil health, fertilizer considerations for 2022, cover cropping, herbicide carry-over, herbicide-resistant weeds, pulse research, secondary […] Read more
Pea weevil damage dropped in 2021
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pea leaf weevils don’t like drought either, last year’s survey of the pest suggests. “The highest damage ratings were in a few fields around Edmonton,” Alberta Agriculture reports. “There were a couple of hot spots in southern Alberta, but nothing like we have seen in previous years.” But spring conditions are key and a stretch […] Read more
Drone tech’s next big target? Insect pest management
There are multiple potential future applications for drone tech in the works
Reading Time: 2 minutes Drones keep getting smaller and smaller, while their potential applications keep getting bigger and bigger. And now unmanned aircraft systems are taking on some of the world’s biggest small problems: insect pests. From crop-munching caterpillars to disease-transmitting mosquitoes, insects that threaten crops, ecosystems, and public health are increasingly being targeted with new pest-management strategies that […] Read more
Crop disease, pest survey needs farmers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ag Canada’s Prairie Biovigilance Network needs farmers for two surveys, one for leaf disease in wheat fields and another for insects occurring in grain bins. The network is a multidisciplinary group seeking ways to reduce pest problems, insects, weeds, and diseases in western Canadian crops and to raise awareness regarding the prevalence, variability and impact […] Read more
Next-gen DNA sequencing aims to find the best beneficial bugs
U of A researchers using advanced tech to find what’s on the menu of your insect allies
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s like a scene out of the movie “Jaws.” The intrepid scientist reaches his hand into the gut of a shark and pulls out what it had for dinner — a different fish or maybe, in the case of sharks, a tin can. He knows, just by examining those contents, what this predator likes to […] Read more
Keep watch for wheat midge this growing season
This silent killer is a ‘big bad’ threat and may be out in force in some areas this year
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ask any wheat farmer about orange blossom wheat midge and they may tell you it’s the ‘big bad’ of crop insects and comparable to fusarium in terms of pure destructive power. “It’s kind of insidious,” said AgCanada entomologist Tyler Wist. “Often if you’re not out looking for it you don’t even know it’s there. Then […] Read more
Here’s what pests might be waiting for you in your fields
Bertha army worms get the biggest red flag in three new pest monitoring reports
Reading Time: 3 minutes There could be a bertha army worm outbreak in parts of the province this year, but cabbage seedpod weevil survey numbers are down, and, save in the south, grasshoppers aren’t a big worry, according to new provincial pest forecasts. Bertha army worm Keep watch is the take-away from last year’s survey, which consisted of 350 […] Read more
Average year expected for insect pests in Alberta
But as usual, local conditions mean producers need to ‘scout, scout, and scout’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Insect pressure dropped in 2020, and Alberta producers can expect much the same for 2021. “In general, 2020 wasn’t really a big insect year, especially compared to past years,” said Boyd Mori, an assistant professor of agricultural and ecological entomology at the University of Alberta. “We had flea beetle pressure like we always do, but a lot […] Read more
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