Growers and producers have faced many difficulties this year, between pests and the extreme weather.
John Gavloski, Entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development says the biggest concern right now is grasshoppers.
“Populations are quite variable. There will be some areas and some fields where they’re really not an economical concern, but then there are other areas where they certainly are.”
Gavloski says grasshoppers have been on the rise in recent years, due to the dry and hot conditions.
“Of the roughly 85 species of grasshoppers in Manitoba, there’s four we consider pests, and those four species can lay a lot of eggs. In a hot year, they’re going to start laying their eggs a little earlier, and if we don’t get some cooler weather and frost at some point, they’ll just keep laying their eggs.”
Gavloski is preparing to do the 2021 grasshopper count this month.
“You can count either the adults or the eggs. Counting the eggs requires sifting soil. It takes a long time and there’s a lot of work involved. The easier approach is to go out in August and do counts of adult grasshoppers around the edges of the field. We usually try to target around 100 to 150 sites in the province. It’s just a matter of doing an estimate of grasshoppers along the field edge.”
The data from the estimations gets mapped so they can make a forecast for the next season.
Gavloski says that flea beetles have also been an issue across the province, and there has been some spider mite activity in soybeans.
