Canola Flea Beetle Feeding Frenzy | Northern Canola Growers Association

Most canola fields need to be scouted to ensure that their insecticide seed treatments are still working to control flea beetles and prevent feeding injury. These fields would be early planted fields where canola has been emerged for 10-14 days or more. In some areas of canola production like Northeast North Dakota, the insecticide toxins are not being taken up readily since the seedling canola plant is not actively growing due to the dry and hot conditions. In these cases, a rescue foliar insecticide is recommended to help protect the plants from severe feeding injury caused by flea beetles (E.T. = 25% defoliation). Once the canola reaches the 4-6 leaf stage, it will be able to tolerate the flea beetle feeding pressure better. Flea beetle activity should start to decline in 2 weeks due to natural mortality of spring population.
Story obtained from the latest NDSU Crop & Pest Report.