Frost in July?

Nights were quite cool last week with minimum temperatures in the neighborhood of 0.6⁰C to 5⁰C across much of western Canada. Pockets of frost Thursday night/Friday morning were reported near Invermay, SK and Two Hills,  AB and in the Peace Region in Alberta. Canola fields that are vegetative can recover better after a light frost but maturity may be delayed. Canola plants that are flowering may be damaged by the frost but symptoms may not appear until seed set. Canola flowers that are newly opened (those that are three to four days old) are most sensitive to frost damage. Frost at this very early flowering stage can damage the ovule and cause it to shrivel and not result in seed set. Symptoms of frost damage may appear as missing pods (where complete flower blast occurred) or missing seeds within a pod when ovules were damaged earlier. Canola may be able to respond with additional flower and pod production if weather conditions improve.