The 2019 growing season started of dry across most of Western Canada and turned wet starting about mid-summer all the way through to winter snow fall, including an October blizzard in parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Now, over 4.2 million acres (2.5M in Saskatchewan; 1.6M in Alberta and over 260,000 in Manitoba) are still in the swath or standing in the field to-date in spring 2020.

Root rot and clubroot are two serious diseases which can, at best, cause yield losses and, at worst, cause premature plant death. While clubroot is a disease solely affecting brassica crops, such as canola, root rot can take hold in cereals, pulses, canola and other field crops when conditions are right and pathogens present.

Managing these diseases can be challenging and require a multi-pronged approach that includes planting disease-resistant seed, longer crop rotations, fungicide application and vigilant scouting. OMEX has a wide range of products that can be used concurrently with your root rot and clubroot management tactics to promote robust, healthy roots, mitigate plant stress and correct nutrient deficiencies throughout the growing season.

The image on the right shows the difference in early-season growth and development between a root rot-infect plant (left) and a healthy plant (right).

Let’s get to the root of the problem, shall we?

Calcium (Ca) is the backbone of every living organism, including plants. Although a plant’s needs for calcium can be as high as its needs for nitrogen and potassium, it is classified as a secondary nutrient. In this post, we examine the importance of calcium and the factors that can limit its availability to plants.

It has been over a decade since the discovery of how plants take up and re-translocate silica (Si), one of the most abundant elements on earth. Further focus on the element has revealed that it plays an important role in alleviating the effects of biotic and abiotic stress; however, still much remains to be understood.