• Lentils
• Pest Management

Objective

To provide pre-season programming in the form of training dealers and growers in identifying early stages of damaging grasshoppers. To develop the initial set of equations of a spring hatching model to provide growers with a better predictive tool. To assess the efficacy of bran baits versus biocontrol as a control method for grasshoppers in near harvest lentils.

Outcome

A booklet was printed in a 3,000 copy printing in 2007 as a durable field guide. It was presented to producers at extension events and was formatted for the web in a downloadable format. The biological gave control levels that were commercially acceptable, with percent control roughly equal to that seen with conventional, commonly used organophosphate insecticides. A beta version of the model was launched in the 2009 season. Updated twice weekly, growers could access it via links at the Saskatchewan Pulse Grower website.