Name the Peril - Talk About Yield Loss

[sumdumguy]

TPhoto taken by spray plane over a Canola field near Regina. Feel free to zoom to identify the peril

[shtferbrains]

If the picture came from a spray plane operator safe to say some kind of bug or worm?
Can you give us a hint as to what the crop is?

[sumdumguy]

July 1 - Canola Field.
Hint: This peril was not specific to this field but these spots are not very visible from the road. Not bug or worm.

[Blaithin]

I would guess gopher although they seem small compared to gopher spots here.

[Marusko]

poor straw management left piles of straw all over the place that killed germ in patches

[Hamloc]

July 1 - Canola Field.
Hint: This peril was not specific to this field but these spots are not very visible from the road. Not bug or worm.

Clubroot?

[redleaf]

My first guess was cutworms but you say no insect or worms

[sumdumguy]

Blaithin, you are one wise owl. Those are pocket gophers/ gophers and fields north of Regina and even south of Regina were infested. Also driving to Shell Lake, I noticed same type of patches in Canola along highway heading north. They are impossible to kill because they are below ground and harvest the roots of the Canola.

[Blaithin]

They’re bad around here this year, especially alongside pastures. It looks like a wave of dead moving out into the field.

[helmsdale]

So is there a difference between gophers, pocket gophers, and richardson ground squirrels?

All we have is the latter, and anything that borders grass around here has to be well tended with a .22 most of the year. I've tried poisoning, but all it seems to do is increase the housing supply! They'll be back in a year or two at the best.

[SmallTimeOperator]

Anhydrous Ammonia for a few years helps deal with pocket gophers and gophers.

[Blaithin]

So is there a difference between gophers, pocket gophers, and richardson ground squirrels?

All we have is the latter, and anything that borders grass around here has to be well tended with a .22 most of the year. I've tried poisoning, but all it seems to do is increase the housing supply! They'll be back in a year or two at the best.

Usually when people say gopher they mean Richardson Ground Squirrels. They’ll also call the Thirteen Striped Ground squirrel a gopher as well but that’s usually just because they see the holes and the hole is a gopher hole. Those ones look like giant chipmunks.

Pocket Gophers in comparison you will almost never find above ground. They make hills similar to moles and almost everyone will call them a mole. For instance, Alberta doesn’t have moles, yet practically everyone will say they have moles whenever they have those dirt mounds. Then they’ll say the moles are eating their carrots Hah They look like a very large vole and have large front claws for digging.