Pulse growers looking for another dry down option this harvest season beyond Reglone and/or glyphosate can now use CleanStart, NuFarm's Group 14 herbicide. CleanStart can be used to desiccate chickpeas, lentils and peas, and provides control of Canada thistle, kochia, lamb's quarters, wild buckwheat and other pesky weeds at the same time.
The company insists that the product be applied at twice the spring burnoff rate (20 acres per case rate or 450 acres per tote) with 15 gallons of water per acre applied with flat fan nozzles. CleanStart should be applied at maturity (80% leathery pods) and at around 15 degrees C air temperature. Farmers should expect dry down to happen faster than glyphosate alone but slightly slower than Reglone.
For more information, contact NuFarm at 1-800-868-5444.
The company insists that the product be applied at twice the spring burnoff rate (20 acres per case rate or 450 acres per tote) with 15 gallons of water per acre applied with flat fan nozzles. CleanStart should be applied at maturity (80% leathery pods) and at around 15 degrees C air temperature. Farmers should expect dry down to happen faster than glyphosate alone but slightly slower than Reglone.
For more information, contact NuFarm at 1-800-868-5444.
'Tis the season for field days, and while I haven't managed to visit as many as I had hoped this summer, you can bet the rest of the Grainews bunch has been out and about. Maybe you've seen them — they're the ones scribbling down all sorts of notes and taking pictures of everything and anything. We also tend to drink a lot of coffee and won't say no to a free lunch.
I did manage to get out to a fantastic field day near Langenburg, Sask., this past Tuesday and, as always, I learned a few new things and met some great farmers.
Which got me thinking — what else is everyone seeing out there? Is there a particular field day or research/demo plot that caught your attention this year? Do you have questions that are going unanswered? What was the neatest thing you saw? What technology or field practice did you see that you'll try on your farm?
I'd love to hear from you. Email me at lyndsey@fbcpublishing.com and let me know!
I did manage to get out to a fantastic field day near Langenburg, Sask., this past Tuesday and, as always, I learned a few new things and met some great farmers.
Which got me thinking — what else is everyone seeing out there? Is there a particular field day or research/demo plot that caught your attention this year? Do you have questions that are going unanswered? What was the neatest thing you saw? What technology or field practice did you see that you'll try on your farm?
I'd love to hear from you. Email me at lyndsey@fbcpublishing.com and let me know!
If last month's front page story on combine losses inspired you to fine tune your combine settings, the Canola Council of Canada and PAMI (Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute) have teamed up to offer hands-on training to do so.
The Council and PAMI are hosting two one-day combine performance clinics, to be held July 27 and 28 at Vegreville, Alta.
According to the Canola Council, canola producers can lose up to five bushels per acre if their combine isn’t adjusted properly. Les Hill, manager of business development and technical services with the Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI), leads off with a presentation on how combine settings, cleaning, feed rate, leaks and swath conditions can lead to losses.
For the rest of the day, leading manufacturers will offer expert advice as they walk through critical adjustments for their combine models, according to a recent Canola Council news release. Attendees will divide into five groups, getting specific instructions on either John Deere, New Holland, Case IH, Claas or Massey Ferguson combines.
Advance registration is required and space is limited. No on-site registration is allowed. To register, visit www.canolacouncil.org and click on the combine clinic icon on the home page, or contact Gail Hoskins at the CCC toll free at 1-866-834-4378. Cost is $65 including GST. Lunch is provided.
The event is 8:30 to 4:30 each day. Location is the Vegreville Social Centre on the Agricultural Society Exhibition Grounds at 4802 47th St.
The Council and PAMI are hosting two one-day combine performance clinics, to be held July 27 and 28 at Vegreville, Alta.
According to the Canola Council, canola producers can lose up to five bushels per acre if their combine isn’t adjusted properly. Les Hill, manager of business development and technical services with the Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI), leads off with a presentation on how combine settings, cleaning, feed rate, leaks and swath conditions can lead to losses.
For the rest of the day, leading manufacturers will offer expert advice as they walk through critical adjustments for their combine models, according to a recent Canola Council news release. Attendees will divide into five groups, getting specific instructions on either John Deere, New Holland, Case IH, Claas or Massey Ferguson combines.
Advance registration is required and space is limited. No on-site registration is allowed. To register, visit www.canolacouncil.org and click on the combine clinic icon on the home page, or contact Gail Hoskins at the CCC toll free at 1-866-834-4378. Cost is $65 including GST. Lunch is provided.
The event is 8:30 to 4:30 each day. Location is the Vegreville Social Centre on the Agricultural Society Exhibition Grounds at 4802 47th St.
I was out touring winter wheat fields around Watrous and Govan yesterday, calf-deep in muck and getting soaked in the never-ending rain. I saw a lot of sprayer tracks but not as many seeding tracks as I would have liked (and I'm sure farmers would like even more). There were pockets of crop growing or seeded and the winter wheat looks amazing - for now. All this water has got farmers talking about leaf disease and that horrible disease, fusarium head blight.
Farmers now have one more option to add to their tool box in the fight against leaf disease and FHB. BASF's Caramba fungicide received registration today and could make a lot of cereal growers very happy this year given the wet, wet, wet conditions farmers are facing. BASF says the product not only decreases the incidence of fusarium head blight, but it also decreases the resulting level of DON mycotoxin in cereals. The active ingredient, metconazole, controls major leaf diseases of wheat, oat and barley as well as fusarium, protecting yield and quality.
“Most fungicides control either fusarium or leaf diseases, this is the first product to provide a high level of both,” says Wayne Barton, marketing manager, fungicides, for BASF. Caramba is to be sprayed at flowering, a little later than some growers might be used to if they're typically going after leaf diseases. “It's a bit later than most growers are used to, and it's small application window,” Barton says. He says that if farmers plan to use Caramba, the narrow application window will require a little extra planning to ensure their application system (aerial or otherwise) is in place ahead of time.
Barton expects that most farmers will still choose to spray their wheat once, maybe twice. In that case, Caramba could become the first choice when fusarium head blight is the main concern, he says. “Most growers will choose one option: add a fungicide with their herbicide application early and control leaf disease; go in at the flag leaf stage and protect the flag and penultimate leaves with something like Headline; or choose Caramba and wait for flowering,” he says. Caramba does provide a high level of protection from leaf diseases when applied at heading, Barton adds, so it's not entirely an either/or scenario — it's simply a choice of controlling the biggest concern.
This year, it might be both.
Farmers now have one more option to add to their tool box in the fight against leaf disease and FHB. BASF's Caramba fungicide received registration today and could make a lot of cereal growers very happy this year given the wet, wet, wet conditions farmers are facing. BASF says the product not only decreases the incidence of fusarium head blight, but it also decreases the resulting level of DON mycotoxin in cereals. The active ingredient, metconazole, controls major leaf diseases of wheat, oat and barley as well as fusarium, protecting yield and quality.
“Most fungicides control either fusarium or leaf diseases, this is the first product to provide a high level of both,” says Wayne Barton, marketing manager, fungicides, for BASF. Caramba is to be sprayed at flowering, a little later than some growers might be used to if they're typically going after leaf diseases. “It's a bit later than most growers are used to, and it's small application window,” Barton says. He says that if farmers plan to use Caramba, the narrow application window will require a little extra planning to ensure their application system (aerial or otherwise) is in place ahead of time.
Barton expects that most farmers will still choose to spray their wheat once, maybe twice. In that case, Caramba could become the first choice when fusarium head blight is the main concern, he says. “Most growers will choose one option: add a fungicide with their herbicide application early and control leaf disease; go in at the flag leaf stage and protect the flag and penultimate leaves with something like Headline; or choose Caramba and wait for flowering,” he says. Caramba does provide a high level of protection from leaf diseases when applied at heading, Barton adds, so it's not entirely an either/or scenario — it's simply a choice of controlling the biggest concern.
This year, it might be both.
There's a part of me that is hesitating to even blog about such basic things as plant counts. Why? Because the fields around here and much of the Prairies are struggling, just getting seeded or are unseeded. It's late in the spring seeding season and I don't want to be pouring salt into anyone's wounds.
That said, there certainly are parts of the west that are growing and so this is for them. My apologies if you're not one of them (but please don't shoot the messenger).
My former colleague and past editor of Grainews, Jay Whetter, is hard at work at the Canola Council rolling out agronomy tips. The latest release on estimating plant populations as a means of gauging seeding success caught my eye and I thought I'd share it. Knowing plant counts may also play a role in management decisions in the coming weeks regarding spraying or, ouch, reseeding. What follows is a summary of what Jay sent me.
Target 10 canola plants per square foot
According to Derwyn Hammond, senior agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, canola stands of 10 plants per square foot (100 per square metre) are ideal as they provide a cushion for loss due to frost, diseases or insects. Stands of less than four or five plants per square foot (roughly 40 to 50 per square metre) generally cannot reach their full yield potential. If a plant stand ends up at less than 10 plants per square foot, Hammond advises checking equipment settings, the seed lot and field conditions to identify why they did not achieve the ideal plant population.
The Canola Council suggests using hoops equivalent to one-quarter of a square metre to estimate plant populations. Simply place the one-quarter metre hoop into the crop, count the number of plants inside and multiplying by four to get plants per square metre. Several counts per field are required to get a good average. Farmers considering reseeding should take 50 to 100 samples to be sure the plant count is accurate enough before making such an important (and costly) decision.
That said, there certainly are parts of the west that are growing and so this is for them. My apologies if you're not one of them (but please don't shoot the messenger).
My former colleague and past editor of Grainews, Jay Whetter, is hard at work at the Canola Council rolling out agronomy tips. The latest release on estimating plant populations as a means of gauging seeding success caught my eye and I thought I'd share it. Knowing plant counts may also play a role in management decisions in the coming weeks regarding spraying or, ouch, reseeding. What follows is a summary of what Jay sent me.
Target 10 canola plants per square foot
According to Derwyn Hammond, senior agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, canola stands of 10 plants per square foot (100 per square metre) are ideal as they provide a cushion for loss due to frost, diseases or insects. Stands of less than four or five plants per square foot (roughly 40 to 50 per square metre) generally cannot reach their full yield potential. If a plant stand ends up at less than 10 plants per square foot, Hammond advises checking equipment settings, the seed lot and field conditions to identify why they did not achieve the ideal plant population.
Recording the average number of
plants per square foot can help farmers improve their seeding
methods for 2011. "You can keep records of thousand seed weight,
seeding rate and seeding date, plus seeding depth and soil
temperature, but what’s the point if you don’t also do plant
stand counts?" says Hammond.
Plant stand assessment is
also essential information for setting seeding rates in the future. Farmers who usually achieves above 10 plants per square foot under
average conditions may have been able to trim costs with a lower
seeding rate. But if plant populations are routinely at seven plants per
square foot or less, reducing rates could spell trouble.
The Canola Council suggests using hoops equivalent to one-quarter of a square metre to estimate plant populations. Simply place the one-quarter metre hoop into the crop, count the number of plants inside and multiplying by four to get plants per square metre. Several counts per field are required to get a good average. Farmers considering reseeding should take 50 to 100 samples to be sure the plant count is accurate enough before making such an important (and costly) decision.
Farmers can make their own 50 cm by 50 cm (quarter-metre) square or make a
hoop with an inside diameter of 56 cm, which is the equivalent of a
quarter metre square, according to the Council's release.
(Click on image for larger version) This hoop is equivalent to one quarter of a square metre. Inside
this hoop are 23 plants, which works out to 92 plants per square
metre — or roughly nine plants per square foot. That’s a good
target. Photo courtesy the Canola Council of Canada
I've been put in my place more than a few times over the past few days. It's raining here in Lumsden. Still raining, I should say. It's been raining and raining, so much so that the standing water in my driveway is attracting ducks. I'm certain they plan on staying. I wish they wouldn't.
While I've watched the rain fall and worried that the crop isn't going in, I've publicly proclaimed that it should stop. And then I've promptly been told to hush up and hold my tongue. See, I'm from the Red River Valley. Nine years out of 10 we'd get so much water we could canoe to town. No, really. A friend of mine owns land there still and each year I seriously recommend she start planting cranberries in those bogs she's got. I may be exaggerating a little, but my perception is that there is such thing as too much water and it happens. A lot.
Fast forward to present-day Lumsden, and I'm getting grief from all sorts of sources.
"If the rain stops, it may not start again." or "Rain makes grain," or, my personal favorite from Grainews contributor Ron Settler: "Last time we asked for the rain to stop, it did. For three years."
And so, the rain falls and I wonder if I should just keep my mouth shut. Heaven knows I don't want to be responsible for the next drought.
While I've watched the rain fall and worried that the crop isn't going in, I've publicly proclaimed that it should stop. And then I've promptly been told to hush up and hold my tongue. See, I'm from the Red River Valley. Nine years out of 10 we'd get so much water we could canoe to town. No, really. A friend of mine owns land there still and each year I seriously recommend she start planting cranberries in those bogs she's got. I may be exaggerating a little, but my perception is that there is such thing as too much water and it happens. A lot.
Fast forward to present-day Lumsden, and I'm getting grief from all sorts of sources.
"If the rain stops, it may not start again." or "Rain makes grain," or, my personal favorite from Grainews contributor Ron Settler: "Last time we asked for the rain to stop, it did. For three years."
And so, the rain falls and I wonder if I should just keep my mouth shut. Heaven knows I don't want to be responsible for the next drought.
There's a new pest in town. Well, "new" might be a bit of a stretch, however the incidence of striped flea beetle is on the rise. What makes the striped flea beetle an issue? As if chewing up your newly emerged canola wasn't enough, this pesky critter tends to emerge sooner, cause more damage AND be less affected by current seed treatments. It's not good news.
It's also not reason to panic, either. Troy Prosofsky, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, says it's not that the striped flea beetle is suddenly swarming fields, however traps are showing higher numbers of this type of flea beetle. That's a bit disconcerting, and the provincial and federal entomologists as well as the Council need your help in keeping an eye out for these insects. (See photo below for distinguishing between species. The striped beetle is in the middle. Sorry the image is so stretched, I don't know why it did that.)
Flea beetles, regardless of species, overwinter in field margins, tree and fence lines and emerge early to feed. The chewing adults will chew on early weeds as they wait for the good stuff — canola — to emerge. While the flea beetle will feed for several weeks (into late June), the majority of the damage is done at the seeding to two leaf stage.
Because the beetles overwinter along field margins, crop rotations don't really help in controlling or avoiding an infestation. That said, Prosofsky says that if you notice large numbers in the fall when you're combining it's not a bad idea to try and seed canola far from that field. It's not always practical, however, which is where using a good seed treatment comes in handy, as does early scouting.
Once seedlings are up Prosofsky says daily scouting is a must. Start at the field edge and work your way in. The time to spray is at 25% damage to the leaves. By 50% damage, you've already lost yield. Remember, when it's warm, these insects move and eat quickly. Scouting daily in warm weather is a must.
Prosofsky adds that because flea beetles emerge before the crop, keeping fields clean of weeds and volunteers does deprive them of a food source. Researchers aren't sure why, but wider row spacing (eight inches or wider) does seem to hold the pest back somewhat. And, as always, a healthy, vigorous crop with adequate plants per square foot (or meter, if you're so inclined) is more likely to recover from early feeding damage.
It's also not reason to panic, either. Troy Prosofsky, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, says it's not that the striped flea beetle is suddenly swarming fields, however traps are showing higher numbers of this type of flea beetle. That's a bit disconcerting, and the provincial and federal entomologists as well as the Council need your help in keeping an eye out for these insects. (See photo below for distinguishing between species. The striped beetle is in the middle. Sorry the image is so stretched, I don't know why it did that.)
Flea beetles, regardless of species, overwinter in field margins, tree and fence lines and emerge early to feed. The chewing adults will chew on early weeds as they wait for the good stuff — canola — to emerge. While the flea beetle will feed for several weeks (into late June), the majority of the damage is done at the seeding to two leaf stage.
Because the beetles overwinter along field margins, crop rotations don't really help in controlling or avoiding an infestation. That said, Prosofsky says that if you notice large numbers in the fall when you're combining it's not a bad idea to try and seed canola far from that field. It's not always practical, however, which is where using a good seed treatment comes in handy, as does early scouting.
Once seedlings are up Prosofsky says daily scouting is a must. Start at the field edge and work your way in. The time to spray is at 25% damage to the leaves. By 50% damage, you've already lost yield. Remember, when it's warm, these insects move and eat quickly. Scouting daily in warm weather is a must.
Prosofsky adds that because flea beetles emerge before the crop, keeping fields clean of weeds and volunteers does deprive them of a food source. Researchers aren't sure why, but wider row spacing (eight inches or wider) does seem to hold the pest back somewhat. And, as always, a healthy, vigorous crop with adequate plants per square foot (or meter, if you're so inclined) is more likely to recover from early feeding damage.
Are Roundup (glyphosate) resistant weeds on your radar? They should be and not because they are in Western Canada but because they aren't ... yet. Ontario has confirmed glyphosate resistant giant ragweed exists in the province. The U.S. has nearly 10 million acres infested with some species of glyphosate resistant weed.
The New York Times carried this story today regarding glyphosate resistant weeds and how agriculture practices are going to have to adapt to handle this new biotype. The game plan is not pretty — a combination of other herbicides (and thus, more money) and a return to tillage.
Neither option is welcome, however the situation is not horribly dire; there are ways and means to deal with glyphosate resistant weeds. The rub, of course, is that both add cost without any real return and in some cases, adding tillage back into the management tool box may not be just costly, but it could also have environmental fall out.
What should we do then? An ounce of prevention is worth of a pound of cure. As discussed in the April 5, 2010 issue of Grainews (available online for subscribers), an integrated approach to weed management is key. Rotating herbicide groups, using tank mixes and scouting — then dealing with — herbicide escapes is paramount.
You can't afford not to.
The New York Times carried this story today regarding glyphosate resistant weeds and how agriculture practices are going to have to adapt to handle this new biotype. The game plan is not pretty — a combination of other herbicides (and thus, more money) and a return to tillage.
Neither option is welcome, however the situation is not horribly dire; there are ways and means to deal with glyphosate resistant weeds. The rub, of course, is that both add cost without any real return and in some cases, adding tillage back into the management tool box may not be just costly, but it could also have environmental fall out.
What should we do then? An ounce of prevention is worth of a pound of cure. As discussed in the April 5, 2010 issue of Grainews (available online for subscribers), an integrated approach to weed management is key. Rotating herbicide groups, using tank mixes and scouting — then dealing with — herbicide escapes is paramount.
You can't afford not to.
There's nothing worse than devoting time, energy and money to something only to have it ruined by a completely preventable occurrence. In this case, I'm talking about crops heating in the bin and diseased seed ending up in the ground without a seed treatment.
Sure, turning, aerating or drying grain also takes some time, energy and money, but after all the work you put in to growing the darn crop, it'd be a shame to lose a portion of it in storage.
All crops can spoil, even ones that went in dry, and fall isn't the only time to watch for heating either. The Canola Council recently put out the call to farmers to get back out there and check their bins; a very warm April is causing heating problems, even in canola that went into the winter dry. Bins with higher than ideal moisture, very large bins or bins with high dockage are at even higher risk.
Do yourself a favour and make the rounds today. If you've got fans, you might just need to turn them on for a spell. Breaking up any hot spots or compacted areas can also be done by removing about a third of the grain then replacing it up top. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
And while we're on the topic of investment protection, let's talk about seed treating. I know it's pretty common practice, and that's good, but unless you test or treat 100% of seed lots (does anyone?), there's a risk of seedling disease. For a very graphic display of the difference a seed treatment can make, check out this seven-day time lapse video on Bayer CropScience's website.
The reduced germination, vigour and survival rates of diseased, untreated seed is significant. If you're going to spend all that time, energy and money putting a crop in the ground, a seed treatment is simply affordable insurance.
Sure, turning, aerating or drying grain also takes some time, energy and money, but after all the work you put in to growing the darn crop, it'd be a shame to lose a portion of it in storage.
All crops can spoil, even ones that went in dry, and fall isn't the only time to watch for heating either. The Canola Council recently put out the call to farmers to get back out there and check their bins; a very warm April is causing heating problems, even in canola that went into the winter dry. Bins with higher than ideal moisture, very large bins or bins with high dockage are at even higher risk.
Do yourself a favour and make the rounds today. If you've got fans, you might just need to turn them on for a spell. Breaking up any hot spots or compacted areas can also be done by removing about a third of the grain then replacing it up top. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
And while we're on the topic of investment protection, let's talk about seed treating. I know it's pretty common practice, and that's good, but unless you test or treat 100% of seed lots (does anyone?), there's a risk of seedling disease. For a very graphic display of the difference a seed treatment can make, check out this seven-day time lapse video on Bayer CropScience's website.
The reduced germination, vigour and survival rates of diseased, untreated seed is significant. If you're going to spend all that time, energy and money putting a crop in the ground, a seed treatment is simply affordable insurance.
In the hustle and bustle of the growing season, it's easy to rush from job to job. When you rush, you leave yourself open to mistakes, ones that could be potentially deadly when they involve contact with power lines.
SaskPower recently launched a new farm safety video focused on the overhead danger of power lines. It's a simple, five minute YouTube video that's well worth the time. Find it here.
The video not only explains what to do if a tractor, auger or other equipment comes in contact with lines, but also provides some handy tips on avoiding the accident all together.
Some key points:
SaskPower recently launched a new farm safety video focused on the overhead danger of power lines. It's a simple, five minute YouTube video that's well worth the time. Find it here.
The video not only explains what to do if a tractor, auger or other equipment comes in contact with lines, but also provides some handy tips on avoiding the accident all together.
Some key points:
- Many hands make light work, yes, but having new people around the farm to help can also lead to dangerous situations because these helpers may not be familiar with where power lines are. It's important that the person moving equipment knows the safest route between points A and B.
- Large pieces of equipment, such as seeders, high clearance sprayers and augers, are most often involved in these types of accidents. Take extra care with these items, and always lower tall items before transport if possible.
- Never trim trees around lines or attempt to remove tree branches from lines.
- If you see downed lines, call 9-1-1 or your energy company immediately. Don't attempt to touch or move the lines.
- Electricity can jump as far as 50 feet. Keep bins, buildings and even hay stacks well clear of lines.
Profile
Grainews editor Lyndsey Smith answers readers' questions, asks her own and, now and then, discusses what's new and interesting in western Canadian production agriculture.
