Just a note that the On-farm Water Management Program has been re-opened!
This additional funding can be used to support water-related projects, such as ponds and wells, on farm.
Check out the guidelines for the program here: On-farm Water Management Program - Government of Nova Scotia, Canada
Upcoming Events/Perennia Updates
Below is a summary of some of the industry events that are coming up in the next few weeks! The events listed below are primarily hosted by Perennia, and more information on each of them can be found here.
- OFCAF Field Day - Adoption and Agronomy of Cover Cropping for All Systems
- September 4, 10 AM- 3PM
- Perennia Field House - Cambridge
- Integrating Beneficial Insects into High Tunnel Production
- September 5, 10 AM - 12 PM
- Webster Farms
Weather Updates
Nova Scotia Agriculture is facing significant drought challenges right across the province with virtually all commodities being impacted by heat and dry conditions. The NSFA are putting measures in place to keep you informed and to help understand what’s happening on farms across the province:
Dedicated drought webpage: Now live at Drought - Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, with updates, resources, and relevant information in one place.
Please reach out to myself, your local Ag Representatives, the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, or your commodity association if you have any questions/concerns or require more information.Solar Radiation, Temperature and Humidity
Table 1 recaps the average weather conditions from August 1-August 27 across the province. These numbers reflect the full sun we have been experiencing for a number of weeks now, as well as the cooler overnight temperatures. Areas of the province have experienced little-to-no rain, and frequent winds, contributing to the dry conditions that come with minimal cloud cover.
This information was pulled from the Farm Weather Map. I will continue to provide these updates every month, and will make year-to-year comparisons as that data becomes available. If you aren't seeing your area represented, the solar radiation layer is accessible to everyone who has an account on Farm Data Tools
Table 1. Average weather conditions through August 2025.
Seasonal Considerations: Planting Winter Crops
Seeding date is incredibly important for the success and growth of winter crops, be it for cash crops or cover crops. Let's take a quick look at the varying success of the same cover crop planted on four different dates:
Light becomes the limiting factor for growth around the end of October in Nova Scotia, meaning that unless we are supplementing with artificial lights, we are likely going to see a drop off in the amount of biomass produced per unit time. Maximizing the amount of time our crops have with optimal light will translate to more above-ground biomass produced compared to those that are exposed for shorter amounts of time.
David Blanchard hosted a fantastic winter greens workshop a few years back. For those of you who haven't seen it, or want a refresher, look out for the recordings for part 1 and part 2 here!
For those of you who are looking at cover crops, the best way to know 'where to start' is to think about the goals you are hoping to achieve with your cover crop: do we want to build organic matter? Generate nitrogen for the next season's cash crop? Do we want something that will survive the winter? Maybe our biggest headache was some disease/pest pressure, and there are some cover crops that are effective at reducing pest populations! These starting questions should help guide decisions on what should be planted so we can work on improving production overall.
Perennia has developed a cover crop selection tool, and it is housed on our Farm Data Tools website! Based on the goals you select, a range of mixes/single species are presented to you. There is some additional information on 'ease of establishment' as well, but keep in mind - this information was generated based on field production. Where we have more control over the temperature/moisture levels than an outdoor crop would, there should be less uncertainty on whether or not the seed will germinate.
Production Tidbits: Managing Current Pests for Winter/2026 Success
As the air starts to move away from the heat of the summer and into cooler fall temperatures, it’s important to continue scouting your high tunnels and greenhouses for insect pests. Although the days for your summer crops are numbered, many insect pests overwinter in the ground or in the debris in and around the growing space as a part of their life cycle. The more insects that overwinter successfully, the higher your pest pressure will be on your next cash crop. Once pests start slowing down and hiding away for the colder months, the window of opportunity for controlling these pests closes. Beneficial insects typically do not survive the winter months without help, so planning to release them late summer can help to reduce pest populations while they are still active and reduce their population sizes for the following spring. For those pests that do remain active in the colder weather, it is important to keep those numbers low in the fall to limit pest pressures throughout the colder months.
Cornell University Extension in New York conducted on-farm applied research on Aphid Management in Winter Tunnel Greens which offers some practical insights into late season integrated pest management. Here are some of the highlights, though I do recommend you check out the link itself!
Parasitoids:
- At one cooperating farm, biological controls reduced an aphid population by 90% on a high tunnel pepper crop. As on many farms, a summer crop preceded winter greens.
- On another farm, the release of 500 mixed parasitoid wasps under row cover in early September resulted in outstanding control of the aphid population.
- Successful winter aphid management with parasitoids requires release in fruiting summer crops to reduce the pressure prior to planting winter crops
Lady Beetles:
- Under row covers, lady beetles provided excellent control of aphids at some cooperating sites.
- Experience through the project showed that these are relatively more tolerant of cooler temperatures compared to parasitic wasps
Biopesticides:
- Effective to reduce aphid populations
- Planting density played a role in efficacy: too tight of a canopy reduces coverage/contact with the target aphids
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That's all for now! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out :)
Happy growing everyone!
Talia (tplaskett@perennia.ca)
