28 Jul Agronomy Update – July 28

Hi everyone.  It’s been largely a hot and sunny week in PEI after a wet weekend last weekend.  Some areas of the province received more than 100 mm of rain last weekend, while others got very little.  The same goes for last night.  There was 10-15 mm of rain in East Prince and the Souris area, but there was over 50 mm recorded in Orwell and none at some stations in West Prince.  Very spotty cells tracking across the province for sure.  The forecast calls for the potential for showers this weekend but with a moderation of temperatures from the heat of this week.

Since Sunday, I have been busy hosting the Potato Association of America meetings in Charlottetown. We had more than 320 potato researchers and industry partners from near and far attend the meetings, and I’ll have more to share about some of the highlight presentations from the PAA in the near future.  It was great to be able to bring these folks, most of whom are from outside of Canada, to the province to showcase our industry and make connections that should benefit research and extension for our local industry.

Spore Update:

Spornado – Collection on Tuesday, July 25^th:

Late Blight:  negative at all 12 sites

Grey Mold:  positive at 1 site (York)

Airspore:  collections on July 23 to 27:

No late blight spores detected in PEI.  Last late blight spores were detected in PEI last weekend.

Early blight counts decreased a lot the end of this week with the exception of in East Prince; however, this was influence a lot by one large collection.

Brown spot remains undetected in most of the province.  Grey mold counts remain relatively steady from day to day….not at very high levels but there are definitely spores circulating, which can be an issue for susceptible varieties.

I had one grower email me some photos of early blight symptoms on a susceptible variety despite that field having had two applications of a targeted early blight fungicide.  I would recommend growers be diligent in keeping an eye on their crops, particularly susceptible varieties.  There is very little brown spot around, so choosing a product targeted at early blight (Alternaria solani) make sense.  If you have seen poor control with the product you’ve already used, I would recommend a product with a different mode of action (different group number).

We had not had any late blight spores detected in PEI since last weekend.  There was another report of late blight spores from New Brunswick yesterday.  As per my recent communications, growers should remain diligent with their spray programs while the weather remains very conducive for late blight development.

Have a great weekend

Ryan