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As harvest gets underway across the prairies there are the usual questions about missing pods on a plant and missing seeds within pods. Missing pods means that something interrupted the plant’s development at flowering. Several stresses can cause blank spots where pods should form such as environmental stress (frost, extremely high temperatures during flowering, drought, etc.) or other stresses (such …

Keep the Heat Coming Generally warm, dry conditions prevailed across the prairies last week and over the weekend which has helped advance crop development. Swathing is underway in southwestern and central Manitoba, southwestern Saskatchewan, and southern Alberta. A few of the very earliest fields in these areas have been combined. Swathing is just beginning in other regions. Overall, the crop …

Sunscald has been appearing in some fields in many areas. It is important to diagnose because sunscald can make the plant appear riper that it actually is. Always examine seed colour change to determine maturity for timing of swathing. Sunscald occurs when plants are ripening during periods of stress such as heat. The main symptom is purpling on the stems …

It is important to scout fields and examine plants to know what is causing symptoms such as premature ripening. Don’t let the colour change of a small percentage of diseased plants affect the harvest timing of the whole field! Across the prairies, there are several reports of late-season diseases, especially sclerotinia and blackleg. In some fields, there is a significant …

Read the detailed Canola Watch Fundamentals article on canola for livestock feed.

Discovery of late-season diseases can help you evaluate you management decisions made earlier in the year and assist with management decisions for next year. Fields with high levels of sclerotinia should be noted and crop rotation should be evaluated. High levels of sclerotia returned to the soil this fall can increase the risk of sclerotinia next year in canola and …

Particularly in Alberta, there are questions about the use of herbicides to dry down or desiccate glyphosate-tolerant canola plants, either an entire canola field or when present as weeds in cereal crops. There are no products registered as a desiccant on glyphosate-tolerant canola except Reglone. ALWAYS be Export Ready and avoid the use of unregistered products for canola desiccation or …

For growers faced with uneven maturity within fields, it may not be possible to swath all the crop in the 50-60% seed colour change window. In situations where uneven maturity is the problem, the best approach is to swath when the most mature plants are close to 60% seed colour change, provided that the least mature plants are showing some …

Questions are starting about swathing this year’s crop with low plant stands and shortened crop height as the ability to anchor the swath to the stubble will likely be hampered. To reduce potential losses from swaths blowing, keep the following recommendations in mind: Swath parallel to the typical prevailing winds in the area. Cut the plants as high as possible, …

There have been reports of producers cutting fields that are too green, especially in the recent heat. Avoid the urge to swath too early, especially under high temperatures. The optimum time to swath is when the majority of the crop has achieved 60% seed colour change. Waiting for this stage allows the crop to enter the dry down phase while …