b'is only one piece of the puzzle. Crops face soil-borne disease all the time. Diseases, such as Fusarium, affect both pulse and cereal crops, making them hard to get around in tight rotations. Theyre especially problematic in no-till situations, says Petruic. Tillage can break up residue, which helps manage disease. All the ground out there is potentially going to have soil-borne disease, and if you dont treat for them, youre essentially putting your high-quality seed at risk, he says. And pulses, because they go into cool, moist soils usually, it seems like Rhizoctonia AG 2.1 and AG4 and Pythium are two diseases that are really prevalent in those types of soils.Because the diseases are soil-borne, producers cant use a seed test for them, theyre either there or theyre not, he adds. Predominantly, if youve been growing pulses and canola, theres a good chance theyre going to be there.Petruic has two last tips for growers when it comes to seed treatments: make sure the seed treatment youre using is compatible with your inoculant of choice and know your application window. You dont want to have two things on the seed that are killing each other, he says. To do this, he recommends checking the labelled instructions. If it says 24 hours or 48 hours compatibility, then you adhere to that, he says.Nevin Rosaasen is a policy and program specialist for the Alberta Pulse Growers.Use the Right Product for the Task at Hand important to make sure growers are treating seed with the Nevin Rosaasen, policy and program specialist for Alberta Pulsecorrect product. Growers, adds a few points to this list of tips. First, he says, itsOne thing producers must ensure is if theyre looking at using a fungicide, they should know what target pathogens are controlled with that seed treatment. If they have a problem with Fusarium root rot, they need to make sure the active ingredient will give them control or suppression of that pathogen.Insecticide treatments can be quite costly. If producers are treating yellow peas with a neonicotinoid seed treatment to protect against pea leaf weevil, for example, they should make sure theyve either had pea leaf weevils feeding on their crop or that theyve consulted a pea leaf weevil map from the previous year to ensure the pests presence. I would strongly encourage growers to not treat seed with an insecticide if they dont have that pest of concern, says Rosaasen.Its very important if you decide to use a seed treatment that it is because you indeed have the risk of yield reduction, either through pathogens or through an insect pest of concern, he adds. Insect forecast maps for 2020 can be found on Alberta Agriculture and Forestrys website. Increasingly, neonicotinoid seed treatments are under scrutiny and when deciding when to use a product, it shouldnt be a decision made on the best insurance, but rather its protection against a pest you have confirmed you have in your area, Rosaasen concludes. Pulse crops are grown in a wide variety of regions. Theyre adaptable, but they come with their own unique set of challenges. When it comes to treating them, growers shouldnt take a one-size-fits-all approach. Understanding how best to treat them will increase a producers chance of success.Melanie Epp38seed.ab.ca'