Gems of the Blue Book
Most farmers do not read the Alberta Crop Protection Guide, also known as the Blue Book, from cover to cover. Although the guide is a useful tool for referencing information regarding specific pesticide products, the Blue Book also holds beneficial reference guides to help with decision making. Here are a few gems that you may have missed while jumping to information about the pest products you need.
The introduction
The proper use of many pesticides requires appropriate crop timing. The introduction of the Alberta Crop Protection Guide includes an excellent overview of crop and weed growth stages with easy to follow diagrams. If you haven’t grown a particular crop in a few years, this is a great review.
The introduction contains lots of other foundational knowledge on things like sprayer operations, tips on calibrating your sprayer, tank mixing, drift management, and pesticides and the environment.
After spray season, recycling of empty pesticide containers becomes top of mind. The Alberta Crop Protection Guide also lists the site, legal land location and phone number for pesticide container recycling locations in each Alberta municipality.
There is an entire section on safety which details tips on how to reduce your risk of exposure to pesticides, protective clothing and equipment along with pesticide cleaning procedures.
Pesticide descriptions
The table at the beginning of each pesticide type lists the trade names, company, active ingredient, formulation and container size. The following section contains information on crops staging, and rates; along with weed staging. There is also a table on registered tank mixes.
It is also incredibly helpful to review the sections on application information, mixing instructions, application tips, how it works, expected results, restrictions and environmental precautions. Read all of the information provided and don’t forget to read the labels included with the product when you purchase it.
Herbicides
To avoid resistance, it is vital to know the herbicide group classifications by mode of action. Tables at the beginning of the herbicide section list the chemical family, the active ingredients and the herbicide products that they are found in along with a short description of how each herbicide works. For example, Fluroxypur is a Group 4 Carboxylic acid found in products like Axial Extreme or Stellar XL that works by disrupting plant cell growth in the newly forming stems and leaves and they affect protein synthesis and normal cell division.
One of the handiest sections in the Blue book is the herbicide selection charts that follows the herbicide section. Farmers are able to see the various herbicide options they have for controlling various weed types in each crop.
Insecticides
Farmers are well aware of integrated pest management strategies for controlling insects and the associated, unintended risk to beneficial insects. A key in deciding to apply an insecticide or not often comes down to the economic threshold. There is some good information on insect economic thresholds and listings for the toxicity of insecticides to honeybees at the beginning of the insecticide section.
The handy insecticide selector chart is located at the end of the insecticide section. This will aid farmers in choosing the right product to use for their insect pest within each crop type.
Plant growth regulators
New for 2022 is a section on plant growth regulators (PGRs). As farmers increase productivity and yields, many farmers have applied or are considering applying a PGR to reduce the risk of lodging. This section provides information on the products available for farmers to use.
Nozzle sizing
Getting the right volume of product applied may not be a simple task. The nozzle sizing charts at the back of the Blue Book provide information on spray volume output for eight different nozzles under different pressures, flow rates and travel speeds.
Continual improvement
Now that four of Alberta’s crop commissions – Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Alberta Pulse Growers and the Alberta Wheat Commission – have successfully taken over responsibility for publishing the Blue Book, more improvements will be made every year. Is there a chart or gem that you would like to see included? Please let us know know by visiting albertabluebook.com.