Even though clubroot seems like a Central and Northern Alberta disease, farmers in Southern Alberta should be proactive.

Last Thursday at Powering Your Profits in Strathmore, Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada for Northern and Central Alberta, Dan Orchard, gave a presentation called, "Clubroot... Coming to a Field Near You".

Orchard spoke about his experience helping farmers manage the disease in Northern and Central Alberta, and what Southern Alberta farmers should be doing to prevent the spread.

He says, North of Red Deer and into Edmonton, farmers weren't leaving a two or three year period between canola plantings.

"Too many susceptible varieties in a short rotation when clubroot was present, and it just built up to spore loads, which are quite frankly, not very easily managed in that area anymore. The pressure then gets put on the resistant varieties, and the pathogen is able overcome this resistance after a few years with those high spore loads."

He suggests managing a three to four year crop rotation with your canola, and using clubroot resistance varieties even before you have a problem with the disease.

"I think there is kind of a stigma out there that these varieties come with a yield penalty, or something like that, and it's not the case in most cases. Some situations they're actually the best yielding varieties that some companies have. They're putting the clubroot genetics into their top varieties."

cw2 image diseases clubroot infected root severe 1 jurkec (2)
Photo courtesy of the Canola Council of Canada.

Orchard says, scouting for clubroot will be very important for farmers in Southern Alberta.

"Growers seem to be not looking for it until their neighbor finds it, and that's not the right approach. Also, some of the messaging in the past was to check dead patches, and I think growers need to find it far before the patch is dead."

He says, swath timing is great to pull plants and check for clubroot, particularly at the entrance.

"Typically, clubroot will first come in at the entrance, and that's where it's first seen. If growers are kind of diligent walking out, pulling plants at the entrances to fields, that would be a good start."

Orchard reminds producers, you can get soil samples tested for clubroot.

"If you're concerned about something, or you thought you maybe seen something last year, and the crop isn't in canola this year, you could still send soil samples for clubroot testing."

The Canola Council of Canada is a great resource, and you can visit their website, or contact their staff, for further details.

dan orchard powering your profits nov 23 17
Dan Orchard presenting to a group of farmers in Strathmore, AB on November 23, 2017.


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