Sclerotinia risk high this year

Canola fields are starting to bloom.

Justine Cornelsen is Agronomic and Regulatory Services Manager with BrettYoung.

"It's obviously been a slow start to the spring but things are progressing," she said. "We still do have a bulk of acres that are sitting around that four to six leaf stage getting ready to bulk. I imagine in the next week here, we're really going to see things start to turn yellow. We've had some high humidity and some heat and a lot of rain so there's going to be a fairly large risk for sclerotinia this year."

She notes most of the crop is past the flea beetle stage.

"Earlier this spring lots were being sprayed because of the intense pressure. Mainly due to the crop just having a really slow growth. That crop kind of sat there for a few weeks and didn't really move and that's where the flea beetles really took over. That should be in the past now and we're moving forward."

Cornelsen says there have been a lot of hail claims this year, with a severe storm passing through the Dauphin and Interlake regions a few weeks ago. She notes canola at an early stage is able to bounce back from hail damage fairly well.

"When you start losing pods and blooms and flowers, that's where you start to see a little bit more of a yield penalty on those crops," she added.