Frost warning in forecast

Sep 30, 2019

With frost potentially in the forecast for the weekend, local farmers and those with backyard gardens are advised to take precautions.

Meteorologist Doug Lundquist says, "especially Saturday into Sunday if it clears out after the first bout of bad weather there could be frost even in the valley."

One of the owners of Don-O-Ray Farms in Kelowna Jas Sanghera says they are open until December but this cold snap is concerning because they still have plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in the field.

"We have a lot of late varieties, we can only pick so much and once the frost comes we could lose 60 per cent of what's still in the field."

Sanghera says some of the peppers are already starting to show some damage on the plant, "the product is fine but it's been cold, it feels like November."

Sanghera says he's going to use frost covers on the weekend and he hopes it doesn't get cold enough to do too much damage. "The cold crops like cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage and the corn is fine. We will still have plenty of locally grown produce for our customers right up until December."

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Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.