Welcome back and welcome to Week 1 for the 2025 growing season! This week includes: • Weather synopsis • Review 2024 monitoring maps to prepare for 2025! • Cutworms • Tick tips • Access PPMN-approved field guides • Field heroes • Crop production guide links • Provincial insect pest report links • Crop report links
Questions or problems accessing the contents of this Weekly Update? Please contact us so we can connect you to our information. Past “Weekly Updates” can be accessed on our Weekly Update page.
Tamara Rounce, Dylan Sjolie, Meghan Vankosky and Jennifer Otani
Categories
Week 1
Since April 1, the 2025 growing season temperatures have been on par or slightly warmer compared to the long-term climate normal (Figure 1). This past week (Apr 28 – May 04, 2025), average temperatures were 3 °C warmer than normal. Temperatures were warmest in Alberta and west-central Saskatchewan, and cooler in areas surrounding Winnipeg and Grande Prairie (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Seven-day average temperature (°C) observed across the Canadian prairies for the period of April 28-May 4, 2025.Figure 2. Growing season average temperature (°C) observed across the Canadian prairies for the period of April 1-May 4, 2025.
There has been little rainfall over the last week across the Prairies (Figure 3). Overall, the growing season cumulative rain totals have been low except for the southwest corners of Saskatchewan and Alberta (Figure 4).
Figure 3. Seven-day average precipitation (mm) observed across the Canadian prairies for the period of April 28-May 4, 2025.Figure 4. Growing season cumulative rainfall (mm) observed across the Canadian prairies for the period of April 1-May 4, 2025.
The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network is a collaborative effort. In-field monitoring data is collected at regional, provincial, and prairie-wide levels. Using Geographic Information Software (GIS), surface area maps are generated from survey data to create prairie-wide maps. Techniques are used to smooth transitions between zones and can affect the values in localized areas and, as such, these maps should be interpreted on a regional level only.
TIP: To prepare for the 2025 field scouting season, review the 2024 Prairie-wide Maps. Take a moment to note which geographic regions for each corresponding insect pest are highlighted in yellow, orange, or red as these are areas and insect pests to prioritize in 2025’s field scouting efforts.
Annual insect distribution maps are posted by the PPMN and can be reviewed on this webpage.
Cutworm scouting spans April to late June across the Canadian prairies! Scout fields that are “slow” to emerge, are missing rows, include wilting or yellowing plants, have bare patches, or appear highly attractive to birds – these are areas warranting a closer look. Plan to follow up by walking these areas either very early or late in the day when some cutworm species (or climbing cutworms) move above-ground to feed. Start to dig below the soil surface (1-5 cm deep) near the base of symptomatic plants and also any healthy plants immediately adjacent to missing rows or wilting or clipped plants. Some cutworms feed while remaining just below the soil surface, clipping then pulling the plant below the soil surface as they munch away! If the plant is well-established (e.g., perennial grass or legume), check within the crown plus in the adjacent soil. The culprits could be cutworms, wireworms, or more!
Important: Several species of cutworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) can be present in fields. They range in colour from shiny opaque, to tan, to brownish-red with chevron patterning. A field guide is available to help growers scout and manage the various species of cutworms that can appear in field crops grown on the Canadian prairies. Cutworm Pest of Crops is available free in either English or French! Download a searchable PDF copy to access helpful diagnostic photos plus a table showing which larvae are active at different points in the growing season!
Other vital resources to scout and manage cutworms include:
● For anyone on the Canadian prairies, Manitoba Agriculture’s Cutworms in Field Crops fact sheet includes suggested nominal thresholds for cutworms in several crops (Table 1). The same fact sheet describes important biological information, and provides great cutworm photos to support in-field scouting!
● For Albertans….. If you find cutworms, please consider using the Alberta Insect Pest Monitoring Network’s “2025 Cutworm Reporting Tool” then view the live 2025 cutworm map updated daily. Review the live map to see where cutworms are appearing then prioritize in-field scouting accordingly.
When field scouting, avoid unwanted passengers – remember to watch for ticks at this time of year!
Blacklegged (deer) ticks can carry Lyme Disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, or Powassan virus. Access tick information plus how to safely remove and identify a tick provided by Health Canada which also recommends these “before you go” ways to help prevent tick bites: • light coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants help you spot ticks easier. • tuck shirt bottoms into pants and pant cuffs into socks – seal yourself in and ticks out! • closed-toe shoes keep ticks out! • apply an insect repellent containing DEET or Icaridin to clothing and exposed skin (according to product label directions). • wear permethrin-treated clothing (according to product label direction). …. and review the full set of helpful tips!
Public Health Agency of Canada has a Top 10 Tick Hiding Spots on Your Body available as a poster in multiple languages including Mi’kmaq, Mohawk, Ojibwe (Eastern), French, English, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Punjabi, Chinese (simplified and traditional), and Italien. An example in English is posted below for your quick reference (Fig. 1) so check it, then yourself, and your pets!
Figure 1. Screenshot of Public Health Agency of Canada’s infographic of top 10 tick hiding spots on your body (2020; retrieved 2024May23).
Another good resource is the free eTick APP which is a public platform for image-based identification and population monitoring of ticks in Canada. Both Google Play and iOS versions of the App enable users to upload tick photos for help with identification.
Continued surveillance is important and enables tracking of Lyme disease incidence and risk. Follow the links to learn more about Lyme disease and ticks if you live in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, or Quebec. Access additional information posted by Health Canada related to Lyme disease surveillance which also summarized a preliminary 2024 total of 5239 cases of Lyme disease were reported to provincial public health units across Canada.
In addition to being free, the downloadable PDF versions of these guides are searchable. All include descriptions of insect biology, helpful diagnostic photos, plus tips related to when and how to scout for important economic pests of western Canada’s many field crops.
Here’s one of the five guides we highly recommend but there’s also guides for wireworm pest species, cutworm pest species, cow patty insects plus the pests & predators field guide! Find them all here to download!
The Pests and Predators Field Guide (2021) is filled with helpful images for quick insect identification and plenty of tips to manage the pests AND natural enemies in your fields.
Every year, these guides are updated with product information and so much more! Hard copies can be purchased via the above websites but also look for the download button to access FREE downloadable PDF copies!
A few other helpful tools to keep at your finger tips:
Jennifer Otani, Shelley Barkley, Amanda Jorgensen, James Tansey, Carter Peru and John Gavloski
Categories
Week 1
Prairie-wide provincial entomologists provide insect pest updates throughout the growing season. Follow the hyperlinks to readily access their information as the growing season progresses:
ALBERTA’SInsect Pest Monitoring Network webpage links to insect survey maps, live feed maps, insect trap set-up videos, and more. There is also a Major Crops Insect webpage. Remember AAF’s Agri-News includes insect-related information: • April 28, 2025 issue includes recommendation to Scout for cutworms. • April 23, 2025 issue includes “Black caterpillars” feeding in southern Alberta, and Flea beetle risk. • Cutworm live monitoring map for AB – Cumulative counts arising from weekly data are available so refer to the Live Map which already cites 2025 reports!
