Agronomy Update – July 13

Hi everyone.  It’s been a good stretch of sunshine and warm temperatures, and the crop is developing fast.  Lots of fields have now filled in the rows and many are out in flower.  Weed pressure on average appears to be low, and I’m not hearing any widespread concerns about insects or disease.  Overall, it looks like the majority of the crop is off to a terrific start.  Here’s hoping that timely rains over the summer enable growers to capitalize on this strong start.

 

Spore Trap Results:

July 11th was our second Spornado spore trap collection date.  This year, we have sites at 10 sites across the province.  All traps were negative for late blight this week.  All of the Airspore sites were also negative for late blight as well.  Additional spore test results are listed below:

Airspore Results for Alternaria/Bortrytis (July 9/11).  Supplied by Airspore.

 

Location Early Blight
(A. solani)
Brown Spot
(A. alternata)
Bortrytis cinerea
West Prince (ave of 7 sites) 9 4 12
East Prince (ave of 8 sites) 10 1 7
Queens (ave of 6 sites) 3 0 4
Eastern Kings (5 sites) 0 0 12

 

Early blight spores (Alternaria solani) are trending upward in the western half of the province but are still relatively low.  Brown spot spores (Alternaria alternata) are very low.  Bortrytis spores are found in most areas but again at quite low levels.

 

SpudChat – Talking Weeds

This week on SpudChat, I’m joined by Dr. Andrew McKenzie-Gopsill from AAFC in Charlottetown to talk about weed management, including his work on herbicide efficacy, managing resistance, and cultural weed management.  Available wherever you like to download your podcasts.

I will be out of the province all of next week, attending the Potato Association of America meetings.  I look forward to seeing what the crop looks like when I get back!

Have a great rest of the week

Ryan