News
Blightline August 17, 2017
Additional late blight was reported yesterday from the rural municipality of Stanley in southern Manitoba. With the recent lingering cool and wet weather, all producers should be on the lookout for late blight and be applying fungicides. Remember the NPPGA field day next week on Thursday August 24 at Larimore, Inkster and Hoople.
Blightline August 16, 2017
Additional late blight has been confirmed near Inkster, ND and Perham, MN since the last report on Thursday August 14. We have had many questions from producers and consultants, and producers are actively applying fungicides for late blight protection. We recommend that all growers continue to scout potato fields for late blight. Growers in areas where late blight is present should apply a specialty fungicide with strong activity against late blight, such as Orondis, Revus Top or Ranman, Omega or Gavel on a five to seven day schedule. Curzate is recommended after a rain because it will kill late blight infections that are less than two days old.
Blightline August 14, 2017
No additional late blight has been reported since the last report on Thursday August 10. We have had many questions from producers and consultants, and most growers are actively applying fungicides for late blight protection. We recommend that all growers continue to scout potato fields for late blight. Growers in areas where late blight is present should apply a specialty fungicide with strong activity against late blight, such as Orondis, Revus Top or Ranman, Omega or Gavel on a five to seven day schedule. Curzate is recommended after a rain because it will kill late blight infections that are less than two days old.
Aphid Alert Aug 11
Three locations topped 3 figures in vector counts this week (Ada at 217, Brooks at 173, and Humboldt at 205). The Humboldt site had a particularly high catch this week so if you're in the northern Valley, the aphids they are a movin'. Cereal aphids are starting to move out of grains and are being recorded in traps at high number, especially corn leaf aphids which are the most common vector species recovered from traps this year. Also numerous this week were soybean aphids, with a major trap catches in the northern RRV.
Blightline August 10, 2017
Late blight has been confirmed in a commercial potato field in Benton County, MN north of Rice. Late blight has also been confirmed in potatoes in the Rural Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne in South Central Manitoba. We recommend to thoroughly scout all potato fields in these areas for late blight.
Aphid Alert - 9 Aug 17
This is officially a high aphid year! PVY Vector Risk INdex values are much higher than last year's totals at almost all locations. With the increasing numbers of vectors, we strongly recommend scouting and the use of crop oils. Anti-feeding insecticides should be applied if required. We continue to see high aphid numbers as well as an increasing PVY risk index. High capture numbers are widespread across the region with 11 of 16 trap locations reporting close to or over 100 aphid vectors.
Blightline August 3, 2017
Late blight has been confirmed in two commercial potato fields southeast of Perham in Ottertail County, MN. Late blight has also been reported near Veseleyville in Walsh County. We recommend that all potato fields in these areas should be thoroughly scouted for the presence of late blight. Growers in areas where late blight is present should apply a specialty fungicide with strong activity against late blight, such as Orondis, Revus Top or Ranman, Omega or Gavel. Curzate is recommended after a rain because it will kill late blight infections that are less than two days old.
Blightline July 31, 2017
Late blight has been confirmed in a commercial potato field in Pembina County, ND. The genotype is US23. Additional late blight has been reported in Walsh County, ND and Nelson County, ND. Because of the widespread findings of late blight, we recommend that all potato fields in northeastern ND should be thoroughly scouted for the presence of late blight. Growers in areas where late blight is present should apply a specialty fungicide with strong activity against late blight, such as Orondis, Revus Top or Ranman, Omega or Gavel.
Aphid Alert
Trap catch did vary slightly this week. Vector numbers were up at Brooks (81), Gully (35), Moran (25), McVille (84), Hoople (92), Staples (39) and Humboldt (183) vectors. This year continues to be a very high vector year. Soybean aphids are still on the rise throughout much of MN. Some of these populations continue to show pyrethroid resistance. Due to another week of high vector catch numbers, crop oils are again highly recommended
Late Blight Confirmed in North Dakota
Late blight was confirmed in a potato sample on Thursday July 27 from Pembina County, North Dakota. The genotype is not yet known. Conditions have been favorable for late blight spread and infection, and growers in this area should apply a late blight specialty fungicide immediately. All growers in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota should scout potato fields for late blight and be ready to apply late blight fungicides.
The Impact of Dicamba Herbicide on Potato Yield, Quality, and Seed Viability
The presentation explains the effects dicamba has on potato leaves, tubers, and seed when planted back. Dicamba is a translocating herbicide that will express injury in the growing points of plants. When a low dose of unintended herbicide comes in contact with a sensitive crop, such as potato, the results can be devastating for the potato plant and tubers. New leaves become twisted, cupped and malformed, while tuber number can be reduced and malformed.
Aphid Alert (July 14)
Looks like it might be turning into an aphid year. We saw high trp catches at some locations this week and we're seeing a lot of diversity in the species being captured. Six sites this week had trap catches containing more than 20 vectors of varying efficiencies: Humboldt (35), Ada (41), Crookston (49), Sabin (25), and Brooks (39) in MN and Hoople (26) in ND. However, Green peach aphid (the most efficient vector) was recovered from traps in Perham, Crookston, Sabin, and Brooks.
Blightline July 17, 2017
No late blight has been reported in ND, MN or MB. Late blight has been reported in central WA (US8) and in MI (US23). Late blight severity values accumulated in the northern half of the Red River Valley in both MN and ND. Many areas have reached or exceeded the late blight threshold value of 15. This indicates that conditions have been favorable for late blight infection if inoculum is present. A protectant fungicide should be applied when the threshold value reaches 15 or just prior to row closure, whichever occurs first. It continues to be important to scout for late blight in those areas where the threshold has been reached concentrating on areas of the field that stay wet longer such as along tree lines and low areas where water accumulates.
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