The flea beetle is a menace to canola crops. Typically seed treatments like Helix Xtra and Prosper have controlled flea beetles with ease and uncontrollable populations were relatively rare. The feeding of seed treatment protected plants controlled the crucifer flea beetle which was great for farmers.
But now we have a problem…..
The current seed treatments control the crucifer flea beetle and are less effective on the striped flea beetle. This is a big deal.
The striped flea beetle has been showing up in different parts of Western Canada, and farmers need to be scouting more and identifying which flea beetle is chewing on their crop. If above the threshold, an insecticide application is required to control the striped flea beetle.
In this episode of the Canola School, Troy Prosofsky, Canola Council of Canada walks us through the flea beetle identification with some great close ups in a field near Nobleford, Alberta.
Canola School videos are produced by Real Agriculture.
You can find all of the episodes on Real Agriculture's Canola School page
