Canola Watch Alert: Canola crops missing flowers and pods likely due to early season environmental stress

Canola growers across Alberta and BC are seeing canola in their fields with racemes (stems) which should be producing flowers and pods, but this normal sequence of pod formation has not happened. Consensus upon field inspection and consultation with experts is that early season environmental stress resulted in a hormonal imbalance. This causes the growing point(s) in the canola plants to stop growing, producing these abnormal racemes and sterile pods. However, favourable environmental conditions over the past 30 days should alleviate these symptoms.

We are confident these symptoms, in the fields and samples inspected, are not the result of recent insect feeding. Growers are encouraged to continue to actively manage their crop using economic thresholds and expected return on investment to guide crop inputs. We are not aware of any crop protection or fertilizer application that can alleviate these symptoms.