05 Aug Agronomy Update – August 5th
Just a brief update with pest monitoring data, as I’m on vacation this week, but wanted to make sure everyone had all of the most recent data.
There was some spotty rainfall around the province on Monday afternoon and evening, with some communities getting more than 20 mm of rain, while many got 1 mm or less. Christine rain the rainfall numbers for July, as well as comparison with normal:
While the rainfall amounts in most of the province (outside of Kings County) are below average, rainfall incidences were relatively well spread out throughout the month, meaning that crops have not been overly stressed. The windy conditions over the last couple of days, followed by the hot weather forecast for the next few days, will be more taxing on the crop and will require some needed rainfall in the near future.
Generally, most growers are reporting that their crops look healthy, with some CPB and Alternaria to contend with but generally manageable. Most May-planted acres will start transitioning into early bulking in the next week or so, making some timely rains even more important. I expect to see a lot of irrigation on the move the second half of this week.
Spore Trapping Results:
| Late Blight | Early Blight | Brown Spot | Grey Mold | Fusarium Stem Rot | ||||||
| (Phytophora infestans) | (A. solani) | (A. alternata) | (Bortrytis cinerea) | (Fusarium spp.) | ||||||
| Region | Fri, July 31 | Mon, Aug 3 | Fri, July 31 | Mon, Aug 3 | Fri, July 31 | Mon, Aug 3 | Fri, July 31 | Mon, Aug 3 | Fri, July 31 | Mon, Aug 3 |
| West Prince | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| East Prince | 0 | 0 | 1 | 885 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 148 | 2 | 7 |
| Queens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 0 | 58 |
| Kings | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 4 |
- No late blight spores have been found in PEI or NB.
- Early blight spore counts have spiked in much of the province on Monday. Most susceptible varieties have already had multiple fungicide applications for protection.
- Brown spot counts remain generally low. Grey mold counts spiked somewhat on Monday (following the moisture from Friday/Saturday) but spore numbers are still near normal.
Aphid Alert:
| Date | Region | Number of Samples | Green Peach Aphid | Potato Aphid | Buckthorn Aphid | Foxglove Aphid | Bird Cherry-Oat Aphid | Other Aphid | Tarnished Plant Bug | Total Aphids | Average Aphids per Sample |
| 08-Aug-26 | WEST PRINCE | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | – | – |
| EAST PRINCE | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | – | – | |
| QUEENS | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 1.00 | |
| KINGS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 65 | 32.50 | |
| Total | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 74 | 6.73 | |
| Week Ending | Region | Number of Samples | Green Peach Aphid | Potato Aphid | Buckthorn Aphid | Foxglove Aphid | Bird Cherry-Oat Aphid | Other Aphid | Tarnished Plant Bug | Total Aphids | Average Aphids per Sample |
| 01-Aug-26 | WEST PRINCE | 30 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 3 | 73 | 2.43 |
| EAST PRINCE | 19 | 1 | 8 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 44 | 82 | 78 | 4.11 | |
| QUEENS | 19 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 1 | 65 | 3.42 | |
| KINGS | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 23 | 3.83 | |
| Total | 74 | 1 | 23 | 58 | 1 | 7 | 149 | 86 | 239 | 3.23 |
Aphid numbers from last week were still around the 3 per trap range, lower than in June and early July. Numbers so far this week have been delayed by the Monday holiday in most of the province, and the high numbers in Kings County are coming from one trap, so use results from this week with caution so far.
Additional Resources:
- PEI Dept of Ag Plant Health – Pest Monitoring
- PEI Dept of Ag Weather Stations
- AgIntel Weather Dashboard (note: some stations not accurate/functional)
- OMAFA Crop Protection Hub (for pesticide labels/details)
Have a great rest of the week. I am on vacation this week. If you have immediate needs, please contact Christine Parsons at christine@peipotato.org or (902) 892-6551. I will be back in the office on August 10th.