Reading Time: < 1 minute Nodding thistle is found in pockets around the province, but mainly in southern Alberta. This noxious weed is a prolific seed producer — a single flower can produce up to 1,200 seeds and a single plant up to 100,000 seeds. It can be recognized by the solitary large red to purple flowers at the end […] Read more
Don’t give this weed the nod
Packed agenda for agronomy update
Reading Time: < 1 minute More than two dozen speakers will be offering their insights at Agronomy Update in Red Deer on Jan. 19-20. Topics include aphanomyces, clubroot, fungicide timing, P and K decline, straight combining canola, insect control, and managing herbicide resistance. The conference kicks off with presentations on field crops pathology followed by soil management, grain marketing, and crops […] Read more
Looking to improve spray coverage? Try pulse width modulation
Pulse width modulation maintains spray pressure and droplet size at different travel speeds
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nozzle guy’ Tom Wolf is often asked about ways to improve spray coverage. But as he says — borrowing a turn of phrase from Paul Simon — “there must be 50 ways to improve your coverage.” And one of them is through pulse width modulation — a relatively new technology that’s “on the move.” “I […] Read more
Now’s the time to attack winter annual weeds
Many winter annuals are often too well established or already flowering once spring arrives
Reading Time: 2 minutes Conditions are favourable this year for some excellent post-harvest weed control, says a provincial crop specialist. “Winter annuals are weeds that germinate in the fall or late fall, go through the winter in a rosette form, and go to seed quickly once spring comes,” said Harry Brook. Common winter annuals include stinkweed, shepherd’s purse, scentless […] Read more
Brace yourself — winter annual weeds worse than usual this year
Dry conditions earlier this spring gave winter annuals an edge and for some growers, it’s too late to manage them
Reading Time: 2 minutes The dry conditions of early spring could lead to a spike in winter annual weeds. “Winter annuals could be a problem,” said Neil Harker, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “We really haven’t had a lot of spring moisture, so the ones that were already established, like stinkweed and flixweed and winter annual cleavers, […] Read more
The 2015 edition of the Blue Book is out
The 2015 Crop Protection book has updated information on herbicides, insecticides, seed treatments and foliar fungicides
Reading Time: < 1 minute One of the most widely requested publications from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development is the Blue Book. “An important part of the annual update is the addition of newly registered products,” said provincial crop specialist Mark Cutts. “For the 2015 Blue Book, a number of new pesticide entries have been added. New product additions were […] Read more
Alberta Invasive Species Council conference
Conference date of March 12 at the Lacombe Memorial Centre
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Invasive Species Council conference and AGM takes place March 12 at the Lacombe Memorial Centre. Topics include stopping aquatic invasives in Alberta, herbicide research for invasive weed control, working with industry to stop baby’s breath, and Russian olive invasiveness. The keynote address will look at what makes invasive species initiatives successful. The cost, […] Read more
Farmers are the front line for slowing herbicide resistance
Weed scientist says producers need to extend rotations, not overuse glyphosate, and employ the most effective tank mixes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Herbicide resistance is like a forest fire — only you can prevent it. That was the message from weed scientist Linda Hall, who said producers need to step up to prevent a situation like that in the U.S. where glyphosate-resistant weeds are now epidemic in corn, soybeans and cotton crops. “It’s easy to say that […] Read more
Fall weed control window
Reading Time: < 1 minute If you have weeds that are green, not too much trash covering, and moisture in the soil, there’s still time for fall weed control. “It doesn’t work out every year that we have this opportunity, but this year it does,” said Harry Brook, provincial crop specialist. “There can’t have been a terrible killing frost, the […] Read more
Winter cereals match herbicides in controlling wild oats
Producers might be ‘fairly shocked,’ but study finds winter cereals are as effective as herbicides in wild oats control
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winter cereals control wild oats just as well as herbicides do, suggests a study underway in Lacombe. “When we had two years of winter cereals — either running or with an early-cut silage in between — we had as good of wild oat control as when we went three years of alfalfa or canola-wheat-canola-wheat with […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
