Return to Canola Council Home
Going to an auction sale this spring? Before bringing home a new machine, check that it’s clean outside and in. Soil on used drills, combines and basically any field machinery could contain clubroot spores.
Cleaning should be done at the purchase location before bringing it home. As a precaution, you may want to pressure wash the equipment again when it gets to your farm. Do this in a commercial truck wash or on the farm in a low-traffic grassed area away from any cultivated soil. This is also a good opportunity to take the time to do a proper sanitation using bleach or Virkon. Read more.
Moving soil, moving weeds. Manitoba’s new weed specialist Tammy Jones (Tammy.Jones2@gov.mb.ca) adds that used machinery could also contain noxious weed seeds – another reason to make sure to clean the machine before bringing it home.
To outline the responsibility to make sure noxious weeds don’t spread by machinery, Jones referenced the updated Manitoba Noxious Weed Act, particularly sections 5(3):
5(3) If an inspector reasonably believes that a noxious weed may be present in or adhering to an item mentioned in subsection (2), the inspector may
(a) give a written notice to the person in possession of or in charge of the item requiring the person, without delay and before the item is moved, to have it thoroughly cleaned, inside and out, and to destroy any noxious weeds in it or adhering to it; and
(b) if the notice is not promptly complied with, take any measures that the inspector considers necessary to destroy whatever noxious weeds may be in or adhering to the item.
Read the whole Act, including subsection (2)
The Saskatchewan Weed Control Act has similar provisions regarding the cleaning of “vehicles and machinery” before moving them between fields.
Further reading:
clubroot.ca
Canola Digest: Equipment sanitation slows the spread of clubroot
Biosecurity and clubroot: How it spreads
