Dr. Tyler Wist talks about flea beetles at the annual Field Day event. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Bugs and crops

Flea beetle population jumping in 2019, says Saskatoon researcher

Jul 19, 2019 | 9:00 AM

A man who knows a lot about bugs says the hot, dry conditions Saskatchewan experienced this summer have helped provide the perfect feeding ground for flea beetles, and may explain why their numbers are increasing.

Entomologist Dr. Tyler Wist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada talked about the crop killing insects, during a 20-minute presentation Thursday at Field Day, an annual event hosted by the Conservation Learning Centre.

“There’s a lot of them and they tend to overwhelm the crops.The beneficial insects that might control them get overwhelmed as well just by the shear number,” he said.

Wist told producers the most efficient way to control flea beetles is by combining Lubriderms and Neonicotinoids (neo-nics). In terms of the difference in crop damage caused by flea beetles, between a neo-nic treated field and one that was not treated, Wist said their studies found it was about six bushels per acre.

One of the questions from the crowd was if Western Canadian farmers would ever lose the ability to treat their canola with neo-nics, currently under review by Health Canada. Wist replied his feeling was no; the government would leave it alone.

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“I like the neo-nics because it is a a really small amount of insecticide that goes into the field. You are not blanket spraying it, and you’re not applying it to the ground,” Wist later explained to paNOW after the presentation.

Wist said the concern with neo-nics relates to the amount of runoff after it rains, and the potential for harm the insecticide may cause to insects in the water.

“They’re talking about really miniscule amounts, like we are talking about parts per billions,” he said.

Other topics covered Thursday during Field Day, were Clubroot, the benefits of intercropping, and the expansion of the pickling cucumber industry in Saskatchewan.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell