These definitions help answer questions such as: How can we lose a resistance trait? How does a clubroot-resistant (CR) variety work one year and not the next?

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Here is a compilation of timely disease tips based on observations in the fields this week. Look for blackleg (shown above) and clubroot in particular this fall.

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Predicting sclerotinia stem rot severity is difficult. This quiz is a review of management decisions for 2018, including a specific look at DNA petal tests. Please take a minute to do this quick survey.

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If you didn’t get a chance to to the pre-harvest disease survey in canola fields, swathing can also be a good time to check. Get out of the swather once per hour to stretch your legs and check for disease. Clip a few stems for blackleg. Dig up a few plants to check for clubroot galls or foot rot. Give those plants a complete scan for other diseases.

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Diseases are usually easiest to see and diagnose in the couple of weeks before swath timing. Patches of dying or prematurely-ripening plants are obvious areas to scout (and show up really well with drone images), but even clean-looking fields can provide some early warning if you take time to look. Here’s how to identify the major diseases of canola as fields get close to swathing stage…

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Photographs can be a valuable diagnostic tool, but they have to be in focus, taken from various angles and come with details on field conditions and location.

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Diseases are usually easiest to see and diagnose at this stage of the season. The photo shows blackleg in a clipped canola stem. Patches of dying or prematurely-ripening plants are obvious areas to scout (and show up really well with drone images), but even clean-looking fields can provide some early warning if you take time to look.

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Disease scouting long after swathing is not usually the most accurate, as saprophytic organisms — those that feed on and break down dead material — move in fast and cloud the identification process. Verticillium is one disease that can be more obvious and easier to identify after cutting a canola crop.

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Harvest is a great time to assess the incidence and severity of canola diseases, an important step in management for next year.

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With blackleg, sclerotinia stem rot and clubroot, base the swath timing decision on healthy plants that will contribute to yield. One exception where early swathing could provide an economic benefit is the case of severe alternaria black spot (shown).

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Check patches of pre-mature ripened canola to identify the cause. It could be blackleg, clubroot, sclerotinia stem rot (pictured) or something else entirely. Here’s how to identify the major diseases of canola as fields get close to swathing stage…

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Patches that seem to be maturing early while the rest of the crop is still green do warrant closer inspection. With all the rainfall in some areas, die-off due to excess moisture could be the prime suspect — but check anyway. It could be disease.

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How well do you know your canola leaf lesions? Take the quiz to find out! (Photo credit: Angel Hewson)

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The later hail occurs in the season, the more damage it can do to yield. That said, flowering canola can, with enough time, recover from hail that knocks off a large percentage of flowers.

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Rescue treatments for hail, excess moisture and other stress factors are rarely tested in broad scientific studies. Growers considering these treatments have to remember the decision comes down to “buyer beware”.

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