New Pest Control Product Registrations for Herbs (incl. Lavender) and Ginseng

Over the past few months, the following new pest products or new uses have been registered for various herbs and ginseng in Canada as a result of the Minor Use System. Consult the label for full product details including the crops covered, comments, precautions and application details.

Note: Not all herbs are covered by these registrations. Always confirm on the product label which herbs are included. Some herbs are in multiple crop groups because historically they were in one group and then moved. Table 1 provides a quick summary of the common culinary herbs and which Crop Groups they are in. The new Crop Group 25 Herbs contains hundreds of species of herbs and edible flowers. Ginseng is in Crop Group 1B Root Vegetables (Except Sugarbeet) and is not covered by the herb registrations. For the full list of crops in each group, consult the Residue Chemistry Crop Group document here or refer to the product labels for the list of herbs covered by each registration.

Lavender Crop Update – Adjusting to a Warm Spring – May 3, 2024

The warm weather over the past week has put us about 10 days ahead of normal based on Growing Degree Days in the south (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A lavender plant on May 3 in Simcoe showing significant green-up and new growth.

Further north, plants may be even more ahead of normal due to the lack of snow cover this winter, which in a normal year prevents temperatures from warming up as quickly in areas downwind of the Great Lakes. That means that plants will be as advanced as they normally are around May 13 or later. This also means that various activities in lavender will likely be earlier than normal even if temperatures the rest of the spring end up being near normal. This includes:

Ginseng Crop Update – April 26, 2024

So far this year, 130 growing degree days (GDD) have accumulated at Delhi, which is 7 days ahead of normal. The warm weather over the weekend will accelerate growth and by Tuesday, we will be back to 10-11 days ahead of normal if the forecast is accurate.

2024 IPM Workshops (Incl. Ginseng)

Registration is now open for the majority of the OMAFRA IPM workshops being held over the next three months. Workshop options of in-person, hybrid or virtual-only will vary depending on the session and is noted below. All workshops listed below are free to attend. Registration is required. To register, please click the registration link under the specific workshop or call the Agriculture Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300.

Temperatures Under Row Cover in Lavender – April 12, 2024

As I mentioned in my last update, normally I would have taken the row covers off my lavender at the beginning of March because of the warm temperatures and sunny weather at the time. Instead, I put a datalogger under the cover to record air temperatures. As I have always said, thinner row covers like the Agryl P-40 cover used in my plot turn into a greenhouse in the spring with the higher sun angle. However, I never had any data to back it up.

Ginseng Crop Update – Seed Stratification Reminders, April 10, 2024

The cooler weather in the last half of March and early April has significantly slowed ginseng crop emergence, but it is probably accelerating again in the last few days. As of April 9, 68 growing degree days (GDD)(Base 5) have accumulated at Delhi. As a reminder, GDD is a standard model often used to look at natural processes like plant and insect development. It assumes that no development takes place if the average temperature for a day is below the base temperature chosen. If the average temperature on a day is 1 degree higher than the base, then 1 GDD accumulates.  Looking at the 22-year average from 2002 to 2023, we normally reach 68 GDD on April 18. That roughly means that many perennial plants and insects would be at the same stage now as they normally are on April 18, meaning we reached that stage 9 days earlier this year.