Agronomist Notes

Another ½ inch to 1 inch of rain fell last week followed by three sunny days in a row! Farmers have been spraying at a frantic pace to catch up. With the high humidity and thin leaf cuticles, weed control has been excellent. Most of my producers are finished spraying canola and wheat and are now on to barley. The exception would be the eastern half of my territory that planted late and are just getting started.

I’ve found a significant amount of leaf diseases across my whole territory with tan spot in wheat, spot blotch in barley and aschochyta/mychosperella in peas. I’ve recommended that all my clients book their fungicides now so we don’t have to deal with a shortage later on. We’ll still check each field to evaluate disease thresholds but I suspect we’ll have to apply fungicide soon. 

On the insect front, I checked 8,000 acres of canola for cutworms on Saturday, Dingy cutworms to be exact. We ended up spraying 700 acres. They were found in the usual areas like on sandy soil or hilltops. I suggest you go have a look to be sure as there have been rumours of some farms spraying every canola acre they have and may not be necessary.

In Beyond Agronomy News this week, we’ll look at the economics of using a high clearance sprayer verses the aerial applicator for fungicides this year. Next, I’ll give you some quick tips to help you time flag leaf emergence and fungicide application. Then we’ll look at cutworm scouting and control options. I’ll briefly discuss some points I made during a field tour looking at different precision drills. Last, I’ve included some new found research supporting the use of half rate fungicides at herbicide timing in wheat. We’ll finish with fundamental and technical grain market news. 

Crop Staging (Calgary to Drumheller to Three Hills)

Seeded	April 23-31	May 1-7	May 8-15
Wheat	2 node	1 node	5 leaf 2 tiller
Canola	bud stage	6 leaf	5 leaf
Barley	2nd node	1st node	5 leaf 3 tiller
Peas	12th node	10th node	8th node

Steve’s tips for the week

• Scout canola fields for cutworms. Look for wilted leaves and bare patches. Scratch soil in the top 2 inches during the day or top inch at late evening to find them.
• Wheat and barley planted late April will see flag leaf emergence within the next week. See the article on predicting flag leaf emergence below.
• Leaf diseases showing up everywhere. Scout your fields early to evaluate disease pressure so you don’t get caught by surprise.
• Start your post herbicide efficacy checks to make sure your herbicide worked. This gives you time to correct the problem should one arise.

Agronomy

Fungicide application comparison: high clearance vs. aerial

Fungicide season is quickly approaching and some producers will be wondering whether to hire a plane or a ground applicator or do it themselves with their own high clearance sprayer.

With the high moisture situation we’re experiencing in many areas, I suspect wheel track damage will be an issue. I’ve already seen a great deal of damage and a reduction in maturity. To flesh this out, let’s run some numbers on the cost of wheel track damage.

Steve’s quick math
Custom applicator: $6.25/ac
90 ft sprayer ÷ (12 inch tires × 2 ÷ 12 in/ft) × 100 = 2.22%
60 bu/ac wheat yield × 2.22% = 1.2 bu/ac loss
1.2 bu/ac × $4.38 for No. 1, 13.5 protein = $5.25/ac crop loss + $6.25 application = $11.50/ac

Aerial applicator: $7.25/ac + 0% crop loss = $7.25/ac

In this example, you’re $4.25/ac ahead by using the aerial applicator compared to a ground rig. If you factor in a grade loss from green and immature kernels in a crop like malt barley, you’re looking at significant revenue loss in malt barley if it goes to feed. In this example, you could add another $6.53/ac to the $11.50/ac for a total revenue loss of $18.03/ac if downgraded from a No.1, 13.5 protein to a No. 2, 13.5 because you had to wait for the wheel tracks to mature this fall. I know hiring an applicator is hard to justify when you’ve already paid for your high clearance sprayer but perhaps some of the fields that offer the highest yield potential could be done with the plane to maximize the return. SL

Predicting flag leaf emergence for fungicide timing

Barley (2-row): When the third node is about half an inch above the ground, the penultimate leaf (one just below the flag) is visible, and the next leaf to appear is the flag. If only one node is visible, then it will be about 10-14 days till flag leaf; if two nodes are visible it will be about 5-7 days until the flag leaf is out.

Barley (6-row) and wheat: When the second node is half an inch above the ground, the penultimate is visible and the next leaf is the flag. If only 1 node is visible, the next leaf will be about 5-7 days. The flag leaf is usually the seventh or eighth leaf in cereals. In wheat, the flag leaf is large and contributes to 45% of the yield. The penultimate leaf contributes another 10%. In a barley crop, the flag leaf is smaller so the penultimate and flag together contribute 65% of the yield.

Source: Syngenta

Cutworms

Last Saturday I had two calls on cutworms that made my heart jump and it didn’t stop racing until I scouted 8,000 acres of canola. In total, 700 acres worth on five fields needed to be sprayed. I recommend you take a look at your canola to be sure you’re cutworm free. I’ve found the Dingy species around the Beiseker and Airdrie areas.

There are three key species — Redbacked, Pale Western and Dingy.

Feeding cycle: All three species feed until they’re an inch to inch-and-a-half long, the molting stage. However, Redbacked cutworms tend to feed longer in the season than the other two. The majority of the ones I found were 1 to 1.25 inches long.

Assessing the risk: Cutworm pressure tends to increase on fields that had high levels of vegetation the previous fall or on pulse stubble. Cutworms can reach economic levels regardless of the previous crop type so scout all your canola fields.

Crop damage: Look for cut, wilted or missing canola plants. Cutworms are often in patches, so spot spraying affected acres may be enough. Evening spraying is optimal as cutworms come closer to the surface at night. Morning sprays are less effective since cutworms move deeper at first light of day.

Control options:

You must spray in the evening during their most active eating time period. Cutworms bury themselves up to two inches deep during the day. Spraying during the day is ineffective on cutworms. 

Insecticides:

Decis: 80 ml/ac @ 10 gal/ac. $5.40 ac. Do not spray if above 25oC
Matador: 34 ml/ac @ 10 gal/ac. $5.40 ac. Do not spray if above 25oC
Lorsban: 485 ml/ac @ 10 gal. $8.25 ac. Spraying allowed past 25oC

For more scouting and spraying tips, click here:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops//insects/fad06s00.html
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/prm2543

Source: Alberta Agriculture

An impromptu precision drill tour

I spent an afternoon last week with a client looking at the emergence rates, seeding depths and plant stand densities across a number of precision drills. We looked at the Bourgault PHD, the JD 1870 and the new Case 800 and we focused on canola stands. Here are my notes from our tour:

High levels of residue or poorly managed residue eliminates the entire benefit of a precision drill. As I see it you have three options: 1) bale the straw, 2) cut the stubble as high as you can and heavy harrow in the fall, or 3) cut the stubble 12 to 14 inches high, don’t heavy harrow and seed inter-row. Option 3 makes even a regular hoe drill look good!

No matter what planter or air tank you have I still find 5 to 8 inch gaps within each row where no seed was deposited due to our average at best metering and distribution systems. I would love to see a cost/benefit analysis comparing a vacuum planter that offers seed singularity to an air hoe drill. Two planters that offer seed singularity are the Monosem - http://www.monosem-inc.com/ and the Accord Monopill SE http://kverneland.papirfly.no/newsread/ReadImage.aspx?quality=10&docid=2127  Neither planter is cheap and it would require a two pass system, one for fertilizer and two with the seed. 

The Morris Contour, Bougault PHD, Case 800, SeedMaster and Seed Hawk all have round pneumatic tires. The JD 1870 has a V-shaped packer. I feel the round or flat packer styles create a ceiling or barrier above the emerging canola plant that reduces emergence. I quite often find canola seedlings that die just below the soil surface. I believe that asking a seed that weighs 0.004 grams to emerge from ¾ of an inch through cold soil and a hard packed ceiling is too tall order for most.  

The packer style that I prefer in canola is the V-shaped packer that presses the seed into the side of the furrow instead of pressing soil overtop. The JD 1870 is the only precision drill on the market with the v-shaped packer and the emergence is exceptional. Yes, the field finish is rough. Get over it. We looked at a field seeded at 3 lbs/ac with a JD 1870. You’d think it was 5 lbs/ac. Too bad the drill may not function well in all soil types.

Do we need to revisit the bulking up of canola to gain better in-row seed distribution with some air tanks? I know with our old Concord drill, the canola meter is really poor so we bulk up our canola seed by adding fertilizer during filling. It looks very “unscientific” but our seed distribution and emergence is very good.

Research has shown that the majority of moisture that is imbibed by the seed during germination comes from water vapor in the soil. We need to press soil around the seed to keep the area around it from drying out. Seed to soil contact is helpful but are we over-killing the idea?  If we could alter the packing pressure on our drills with an understanding of how much pressure is needed under certain soil type and soil moisture conditions, we could certainly improve germination and emergence.

Over all, the germination, crop uniformity and plant stand densities looked very similar across the precision drills we investigated. However, a precision drill isn’t a silver bullet that allows you to manage residue poorly or set your packing pressure incorrectly. In many cases I’ve seen regular hoe drills do equally good work because the attention to detail was far superior. The old standby of proper residue management, seeding depth, seeding speed and depth checking from field to field is paramount to establishing a good canola stand. Combine the attention to detail with a precision drill and you’ve got a winning combination. SL

New research on half rate fungicide at herbicide timing in wheat

I was given some interesting research supporting the use of half rate fungicides in wheat at herbicide timing. The results show a potential 2 to 6 bu/ac increase with a half rate of fungicide at herbicide timing provided you meet the right criteria:

1) wheat was grown on wheat residue,
2) a susceptible to moderately susceptible variety was grown, and
3) when spring rains favored disease development.

So far I’ve recommended half rates of Tilt at herbicide timing on about 4,000 acres of wheat given the severity of the disease pressure. There is a strong possibility that we will be applying a full rate of fungicide at flag leaf to maintain control of leaf diseases in the wettest areas. SL

For more info on the research go to:  http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extplantpath/publication/Tan%20Spot%20and%20Septoria_Stagonospora%20Diseases%20of%20Wheat.pdf

Controlled Traffic Field day – July 29th, 2010 Morrin, AB

1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Please register for the tour so enough food is on-hand for the BBQ. There is no charge for the tour, but the BBQ supper will be $10 cash (payable at the event). More details coming soon.

For more information on CTF Alberta visit their website and discussion forum

http://canola.ab.ca/controlled_traffic_farming_tour.aspx

Market News

Technical Analysis

Canola: November futures. The short and long term trend is up.
HRS Wheat: December futures. The short and the long term trend is down.
Corn: December futures. The short and long term trends are down.
Soybeans: November futures. The short term trend is down and long term trend is up.
Canadian Dollar: June futures. The short term trend is up and the long trend is down.
US Dollar Index: June futures. The short term trend is down and the long term trend is up.