The 2018 Ontario Potato Conference will be held on Tuesday March 6, 2018. More details to follow.
All posts by Dennis Van Dyk
Nozzle choice in vegetable crops – an Australian perspective
Here is a great article on sprayers101.com about spray nozzle selection in vegetable crops.
During my many years of work in the Australian vegetable and horticultural industry, I am continually asked:
What is the best spray unit to use?
My answer is quite simple:
The one that has been correctly set up and matched to the crop you are spraying.
That can be hard to achieve, especially in vegetable crops where the target can vary enormously from bare ground to upright leaf crops (e.g. onions), to horizontal leaf crops (e.g. potato and brassica).
Generally, I have found that air-assist booms offer the best starting point for achieving good spray coverage of vegetable crops. However, like any spray boom, they must be set up correctly. Air-assist booms are more expensive and require a few more horses to operate, which is why most Australian vegetable growers prefer to make do with a non air-assist boom.
So, if air-assist isn’t an option, it then becomes imperative to determine the most suitable nozzles for their particular requirements. I have worked in many vegetable crops over the years. I’ve held my share of “fluorescent dye nights” and checked spray coverage and canopy penetration with many grower groups. Based on my experience, there are three types of nozzles I recommend for most vegetable crops:
Read more here:
http://sprayers101.com/nozzle-choice-in-vegetable-crops-an-australian-perspective/
Muck Crops Research Station Grower Field Day
If you are a carrot or onion grower, or just interested in the latest vegetable research you are invited to the University of Guelph Muck Crops Grower Field Day on Thursday, September 7. See the announcement below:
Grower Field Day Variety Trials 2017 invitation
The carrot and onion variety trials will be on display with entries from the major vegetable seed suppliers.
You can also view the onion research trials on topics like Stemphylium leaf blight, downy mildew and onion maggot. Research trials on carrot weevil control, carrot weed control and celery leaf curl will be featured and it’s also great opportunity to interact with University of Guelph researchers, other growers and industry reps.
The Muck Crops Research Station is at 1125 Woodchoppers Lane, King ON, L7B 0E9 with Stokes Seeds providing coffee and donuts and a free lunch compliments of Solar Seeds.
Matador/Warrior/Silencer and Imidan proposed phase out
The PMRA have proposed to cancel the registration of both lambda-cyhalothrin (Matador/Silencer/Warrior) and phosmet (Imidan). The decisions can be found here:
The decisions state that lambda-cyhalothrin poses an unacceptable risk from dietary exposure (worst case scenario cumulative food residues would be too high), while phosmet poses a risk during application and post-application activities. The proposed precautions such as revised restricted entry intervals would not be agronomically feasible (e.g. 12 day REI for scouting carrots, 43 days for moving irrigation pipe).
Public consultation is now open until September 23 (lambda-cyhalothrin) or September 30 (phosmet) so if growers wish to make comments on these proposed decisions you can submit them to pmra.publications@hc-sc.gc.ca, or talk to your growers’ association who can comment on your behalf.
University of Guelph Potato Research Field Day
The UofG along with the Ontario Potato Board will be hosting the Potato Research Field Day on Wednesday August 16th at the Elora Research Station.
Come on out to view over 100 processing and table varieties where you can see the dug potatoes and foliage side by side. You can also hear about low glycemic impact potatoes from Dr. Reena Pinhero and an update on the CHC potato research cluster from Mary Kay Sonier of the PEI Potato Board. A free lunch will also be provided.
The flyer can be found HERE with more details, start time and directions.
2017 Ontario Potato Field Day at HJV Equipment
The Ontario Potato Field Day on Thursday August 17 will be a good opportunity for growers, potato industry personnel and anyone interested in potatoes to see what is new in potato equipment, to have a look at new varieties and to exchange information. Potato growers and potato industry personnel from other provinces are welcome to attend.
As always, the Trade Show will feature new potato technology to enhance production practices.
For more information please contact Eugenia Banks (eugeniabanks@onpotato.ca, 519-766-8073)
Talking About the Weather – 2017 vs 10 year average
The 2017 growing season has been a wet one seemingly across the province, but just how much rain have we received?
Below you can see that since March, we have received more than the average monthly rainfall in nearly all regions of the province. Many regions have received double the monthly average rainfall and this often falls within just a few days.
In most growing areas aside from Eastern and Northern Ontario, the daily maximum is within 0.3°C of the 10 year average. However, the daily minimum temperatures are averaging nearly 1°C warmer than the 10-year average. This is accounting for most of the increase in growing degree day accumulation for this year over the average. We haven’t had many hot days over 30°C, but our overnight temperatures have been a little warmer.
Here’s how different regions across the province compare to their 10-year averages in terms of degree days and rainfall.
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