Alberta Canola is warning growers about a pest that could be expanding further into central parts of the province this year.
Keith Gabert, Provincial Agronomy Specialist, points out that Cabbage Seedpod Weevil has been around since about 1995 and typically there are a fair number of them in the Lethbridge area.
However, he adds, now they have had reports of seeing them as far north as Lacombe and the Alberta Agriculture map has a reasonable number even getting close to Edmonton. Gabert says “especially if you were the first guy that seeded and are now the first person that’s flowering, you should go out and take a look for this particular pest. It is strongly attracted to early canola fields as they turn yellow. You may need to spray this pest as your first canola pod gets about half an inch/three quarters of an inch long, if you have 25 to 40 on average in 10 sweeps.”
Gabert points out that this is not a typical pest for our region, but it is well worth looking for it for canola growers because we’ve had some nice winters and the numbers are up.
