We are now at 550 GDD which is getting really close to the 600 mark for wheat midge emerging. There have been a few reports on some midge already being active. It is extremely tricky to tell if the females are out or of they are still only the males. The females emerge after the males but are usually not too far behind. So if your wheat has not yet flowered you probably want to get out and check the heads at dusk. The threshold to spray is around the 4-5 adult midge per head for yield and 8-10 per head for grade. Wheat that has flowered is already beyond the risk timing as midge will only lay their larva in non flowering wheat.
Another thing to be aware of is that the Bertha army worm moth count is up significantly this week from last week. Last Tuesday the count was at 100 moths and this Tuesday it went up to 300. Keep in mind that this is a count of the moths not the larva so this is just an indicator to let us know they are in fact around and will be something to keep and eye on during canola podding. These traps that are providing these counts are located at the College so they are our local numbers. To see all the up to date counts for insects visit http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app21/loadmedia you can choose the location on that map.
For anyone who is interested in attending some crop tours this summer there are two on the schedule for July.
BASF will be hosting a tour on July 19 at the Nisku research site. To RSVP please call Slav at 780-806-9909 by July 12.
DuPont will be hosting their Touch Tomorrow Tour in Sherwood Park on July 31. Please RSVP by July 24th to Sonia at 780-853-0463.
If you have questions or comments or a topic covered on out blog please call our office at 780-853-6565 or comment on our blog. You can also follow us on twitter @WebbsCropServic
