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Potatoes

Wireworms bore into a plant stem.
Crops

Wireworms a persistent insect pest on the Prairies

Nestled in the soil and hard to kill, wireworms are a headache for Manitoba growers

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They’ll survive what would kill other crop pests. Some species will eat each other. If food is scarce, they might reverse molt to become smaller and harder to starve. They’ll go after grain crops, potatoes, onions, carrots, strawberries or almost any other field crop. Their tendency to feast on germinating seeds and young shoots under
Seeding progression in 2024 compared to previous years.
Crop Report, Crops, News

Seeding pace picks up across agro-Manitoba

Manitoba Crop Report: Issue 3 (week 19)

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Rapid seeding has progressed across the province this past week and is now at 30 per cent complete. Producers have focused on planting corn (60 per cent complete), cereals (58 per cent complete) and peas (72 per cent complete). Canola planting has just started with 6 per cent of the acres being planted. Producers are
Canola stubble pokes out of the hills in Chad Berry’s direct-seeded potato demonstration plot in 2021.
Crops

Making potatoes friendly to soil health

Soil health tactics are not out of reach for the spud sector

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Potatoes are a high-value crop and one of the world’s most important dietary staples. But when it comes to sustainability, they’ve got a hurdle to clear because there’s no escaping some level of soil disturbance when growing and harvesting. Why it matters: Soil health and minimized soil disturbance are major pillars in the push toward
Verticillium wilt is the main culprit for potato early die complex.
Crops

Early bird may dodge verticillium woes in potatoes

Pushing a problem field to the front of the planting queue may help limit infection

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Verticillium wilt is a problem for a lot of crops in Manitoba, including canola, sunflowers and alfalfa. In potatoes, the fungus Verticillium dahlia is the main cause of potato early die complex. In a 2021 interview with the Co-operator, Mario Tenuta, University of Manitoba soil scientist and main investigator with the Canadian Potato Early Dying Network, suggested the condition
Field stress can translate to potato skin flaws.
Crops, News

The ugly truth of tuber trauma 

Field stresses may mean less than pretty potatoes come fall

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Life can be tough on a tuber. Lots of things can cause blemishes or otherwise diminish the visual quality of a potato. It could be herbicide injury, North Dakota State University plant pathologist Andy Robinson said. Or the tubers might have been jostled by harvest equipment. Maybe it’s just a consequence of field conditions. “Lots
Fertigation aims to maximize tuber production over vegetative growth.
Crops, News

Setting up fertigation in potato crops for success

Manitoba farmers show how they’ve made the irrigation-fertilization marriage work

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Potato producer Sheldon Wiebe, who farms near MacGregor, can wax poetic about how production has evolved on his operation, J.P. Wiebe Ltd., since its inception in the mid 1960s. Like other Manitoba potato farmers, the introduction of irrigation is part of that story, but today the practice is about more than just water. Today, the
The good news about adopting biologicals is they don’t require drastic changes to conventional practices.
Crops, National Potato Guide 2024

Is the picture of biologicals clearing?

Understanding what the industry offers is a big part of finding an answer

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The interest in biologicals is growing quickly, including in the potato sector.  For the National Potato Guide, we asked representatives of two companies involved in the sector, Can Grow Crop Solutions and Vive Crop Protection (with Pro Farm), for their perspectives on where the potato sector is heading with biologicals.  The biologicals sector can be
Mustard has been registered as biofumigant to help with verticillium wilt control in potatoes.
Crops, National Potato Guide 2024

Potato growers have another option against verticillium wilt

Registration of a new mustard hybrid could also help combat nematodes

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In the past few years, growers in the horticulture sector have had to cope with government deregistration of several active ingredients, leaving many to try different measures and concepts to deal with challenges of diseases and insect pests. Now comes word of a return to yesterday, of sorts, employing a newly registered male sterile mustard
Supplemental irrigation (SI) was a production aspect of potato production examined by through the Living Lab – Atlantic project.
Crops, National Potato Guide 2024

First Living Lab focused on potatoes

Federal funding program helped look at cover crop effects and reducing tillage in potatoes

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The first Living Lab – Atlantic program was heavily focused on potato research and has led to an increase in the integration of cover crops into potato growing areas in Prince Edward Island.  The Living Lab was led by the East Prince Agri-Environment Association (EPAA), with the involvement of the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Potato
Dr. Bourlaye Fofana from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) believes the SIGS concept holds tremendous potential in combating diseases in potatoes.
Crops, National Potato Guide 2024

Revolutionary technology shows promise in potatoes

The potential for spray-induced gene silencing seems extraordinary, but it could help with disease control in potatoes

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In February 2022, an email was circulated by Dr. Eugenia Banks of the Ontario Potato Board, about a new method for control of late blight in potatoes, called spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS). The technology has its origins in research by Dr. Aline Koch and a team of German researchers for the control of Fusarium head blight

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