Funding for student employment

Do you employ young people during the summer months or throughout the year?  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has some funding available to pay their salaries!  The Green Farms Stream funds internships for youth 30 years old or younger, including high school students to work on farms to support environmentally beneficial management activities. These internships can last up to 12 months and must be completed by March 31, 2019.

You could receive up to a maximum of $10,000 per intern under the Green Farms Stream.  More details can be found here: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/programs-and-services/list-of-programs-and-services/agricultural-youth-green-jobs-initiative/green-farms-stream/?id=1459879871410

Wireworms in Nova Scotia

Wireworms in transplants

For those of you who missed Dr. Christine Noronha's presentation on wireworms last week, you can find her presentation here. 

While many areas in Nova Scotia thankfully do not report wireworm problems, there are definitely high populations in some fields.  Last spring, we set traps in a few fields around the province.  Below is a graph from a vegetable field in Colchester County, showing high numbers of Agriotes sputator, one of the more voracious click beetle (adult wireworm) species.  Click beetle flight happens earlier in the warmer parts of the province such as the Valley.

Click beetle catch in Colchester County, 2016.

Perennia has set out some click beetle pheromone traps again this year, and we just collected our first sample.  Below is a photo of our first "haul" from Annapolis County.  On the left is A. obscurus, the middle is A. sputator, and on the right is A. lineatus.  Pheromone traps only attract males, so do not reduce the click beetle/wireworm population, but do give us a good idea of pest levels.  

May 23, 2017 click beetle catch from Annapolis County.

Wireworm updates

Dr. Christine Noronha is an entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in PEI with a particular interest in wireworms.  She will be visiting Nova Scotia this week and will give an overview of wireworms and their lifecycle (similar to last year’s presentation), as well as the most recent updates and highlights from her research into this pest. 

The presentation will take place at the Kentville Research Station (32 Main Street, Kentville) on Friday, May 12^th, 2017 at 9 am in the Perennia Training Room.  I know it’s a busy time of year, but we hope you can join us! 

Integrated Weed Management in Cucurbits

Plywood separators used to partition a grain drill seed box.

In the Fall of 2016, Perennia, in conjunction with local growers and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, undertook a new on-farm trial that demonstrates the use of mulched cover crops to suppress weeds and promote soil health in cucurbit production.  

Partitions expertly secured with a suitable application of duct tape.

In a previous project (Cover crops and zone tillage for reduced risk weed management in field vegetables in Eastern Canada), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists evaluated weed control methods in cucurbits using cover crops and generated recommendations for using certain techniques to manage weeds in squash production. The technique that we are trying in Nova Scotia integrates the use of fall-seeded rye and banded fall-seeded oats.  

Two rows of oats seeded for eight rows of rye, September 30, 2016.

Oat and rye establishment on October 19, 2016.

The oats will winter-kill, leaving a clear narrow band into which squash can be planted.  The surviving rye is left to grow until late spring at which point it is rolled down to serve as a weed-controlling mulch. This technique has been shown to reduce weed pressure and the amount of herbicides needed, as well as increase marketable squash yield. Squash that is grown on the rolled down rye mulch should be cleaner at harvest, have less disease symptoms, and require less cleaning prior to heading to market.

 

Another added benefit of this system is the organic matter that the cover crops will add to the soil.  This, along with the season-long soil cover provided by the mulch, will contribute to improvements in soil health.  The mulch will protect the soil from erosion and will also preserve soil moisture should we have a repeat of last year's growing conditions!

We intend to hold a field day this summer to demonstrate this technique, stay tuned for more details!!  

Winter-killed oats alternating with fall rye, January 31, 2017.

Wireworm Managment with Dr. Christine Noronha

We were fortunate to have Dr. Christine Noronha from AAFC visit the Kentville Research Station in early May.  She was kind enough to share her presentation on Wireworm Management with us.  Please click on the above link to access the presentation.

Wireworm traps are being set around Nova Scotia to identify what species of click beetle we have here.