Issues of the week May 26, 2010 — Rain ranged from a few tenths to 3” across much of the Prairies last week, including the Peace region. For those canola acres not seeded, growers need to take steps to speed emergence and tighten maturity. For example, find an early-maturing variety, seed shallow, and seed at a higher rate.
Tips to help canola mature faster
When assessing how late is too late to seed Argentine canola, start with the average date of the first fall frost. Here are maps showing average dates for first fall frost in each province: Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Most fall frosts occur within two weeks either side of the average date for your area. Next, look at days to maturity for the …
Volunteer canola is a high-risk crop
With high emergence rates of volunteer canola, some growers with many acres still to seed may be tempted to leave these volunteer “crops” to maturity. Volunteer canola is not a hybrid anymore, so yield potential of each individual seed is lower and not all plants will have herbicide tolerance. And with distribution concentrated in the windrows, the stand is not …
If growers must broadcast seed…
Broadcast seeding usually results in lower yields compared to drill seeding. But when wet conditions limit equipment flotation and when time is running out to get the crop in, growers may wish to consider broadcast seeding. Here are some tips: 1. Increase seeding rates slightly to compensate for non-uniform seed depth. 2. Consider lightly cultivating (two to four cm) or …
Strategies to improve weed control in Liberty Link
Liberty works best when applied with water volumes of 10 gallons per acre and when temperatures are warm. “When I worked in retail, we eliminated almost all Liberty performance issues by going to 10 gpa (Imperial),” says Ingrid Kristjanson, crop specialist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives. Clark Brenzil, weed management specialist with Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, adds: “Most …
Tips for a nitrogen top up
Growers who reduced nitrogen rates at seeding and now would like to top up can see good results from dribble banding liquid nitrogen on the soil surface. Cindy Grant, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon, provides these tips: —Urea is less prone to losses when dribble banded in the liquid UAN form than when broadcast in dry …
Watch for cutworm damage after emergence
John Gavloski, provincial entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI), says crop insurance assessed a field of canola south of Bagot, Man., last week because of cutworm damage. Scott Hartley, provincial entomologist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, recommends that growers scout closely for cutworms based on their higher activity in 2009 and preceding years. Start scouting for …
When it’s warm, flea beetles go everywhere
In warmer temperatures, flea beetles are more mobile — so the technique of scouting only at field edges no longer applies. It will be important to scout throughout fields for flea beetle hot spots. Spray only when damage reaches the action threshold — which is 25% of leaf area eaten or damaged. (See the photo at the top.) With canola …
A second pre-seed burn, glyphosate tips, scout for flea beetles
Issues of the week May 19, 2010 — After a week of full-out seeding, canola seeded early last week is already emerging. Weed control is critical, especially if growers didn’t do a pre-seed burnoff. Weeds, including volunteer canola, have been emerging over the past month, in many cases, and some plants are large. Control only gets harder and the damage …
Tips to get the most out of CleanStart
Canola volunteers are a weed that should be controlled ahead of your canola crop. CleanStart is the only pre-seed burnoff registered for use ahead of canola that can control Roundup Ready volunteers. There has been lot of interest in using Clean Start as a pre-seed burnoff, most likely due to producers pushing rotations. CleanStart is a mix of glyphosate plus …