Agronomist Notes
Many producers were able to start seeding last Tuesday and make significant progress, despite getting stuck in the mud several times a day! The area around Drumheller was at a standstill until Saturday as the heavy clay soils were slow to firm up. We’ve had strong winds that have really helped to dry the fields. Today, my clients are roughly 35% done seeding and have been dealing with lost efficiencies in changing crops to match dry fields instead of rolling right through on one crop.
As spring rolls along, I know some producers are getting itchy to be done and are frustrated by getting stuck so often. The majority of questions I receive these days are about spray timing, seeding speed, and prioritizing crop type. I have included tips on speeding up crop maturity, seeding after spraying and a list of early season wheat, barley and canola varieties for those who are well behind schedule and able to switch varieties.
Agronomy
Ten Tips to Speed Up Maturity in Spring Seeded Crops
- Minimize fertilizer and seed fill time. A huge amount of time can be saved if you’re organized.
- Increase seeding rates. High plant populations reduce tiller formation.
- Ensure optimum phosphorus fertility program. Phosphorus promotes early growth, root formation, seed production and maturity.
- Seedplace phosphorus and potassium. These nutrients move slowly in cool wet soils.
- Choose an early season variety. Naturally, earlier varieties require fewer days for maturity.
- Control seeding depth to ensure uniformity. Even seeding depth promotes even maturity.
- Seed shallow, no further than inch deep for cereals and ½ inch for canola in moist soils. Shallow seeding promotes speedy emergence.
- Do not broadcast and incorporate canola or cereals. This delays maturity through uneven seeding depth and germination.
- Ensure proper seed placement. Seed placement is key to a uniform emergence and even maturity.
- Ensure seed placement is away from high nitrogen rates. This eliminates risk of fertilizer injury due to ammonia toxicity or salt injury.
Seeding After Spraying
The simplest rule of thumb is to wait six to eight hours after spraying glyphosate to start seeding if you’re targeting spring and winter annuals. The roots of annual weeds are typically small at this time of year so it doesn’t take long for the glyphosate to move through the plants.
If you’re targeting perennials like Canada thistle, dandelion, toadflax and quackgrass, you want to wait three days before seeding to allow the glyphosate to translocate through the large developed roots. However, glyphosate will only suppress most perennials at this time of year because nutrient and water flow is moving up the plant and not down toward the roots.
You may have some luck, as I have in the past, of controlling perennials in the spring with a one-litre glyphosate application on quackgrass for example, but control is often hit and miss in the spring and not reliable for the money spent.
With respect to dandelions, I’ve had success controlling them with a one-litre glyphosate application in the spring when the plants are less than six inches across. Last year we took down rhubarb-sized specimens with Pre-Pass plus a top-up of half a litre of glyphosate. Since dandelions are starting to flower right now, controlling them at this point will be extremely difficult.
Controlling perennials in the spring is possible but I urge you to start scouting for perennials in-crop and after harvest to avoid last ditch efforts to control perennials in the spring.
Early Season Varieties - Days to Maturity
In areas 2, 3 and 5 of Alberta (see link), not including the Red Deer - Edmonton corridor, which may find these varieties earlier due to higher sunlight hours, the following can be used as a guide for estimating maturity in actual days from seeding to harvest. The days to maturity represent an average of three Alberta agro-climatic zones.
Map: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/crop3970/$FILE/soilmap.gif
Barley
- Metcalfe (Check) 99 days
- CDC Tisdale 96 days
- CDC Kendall 97 days
- Harrington 98 days
- Conlon 98 days
- Xena 100 days
Wheat
- AC Barrie (Check) 110 days
- AC Splendor 107 days
- AC Intrepid 108 days
- CDC Teal 108 days
- Park 108 days
- Kanata 108 days
- AC Harvest 110 days
Canola
- 46A65 (Check) 109 days
- InVigor 5108 105 days
- InVigor 5020 107 days
- Dekalb 71-20 107 days
- Dekalb 71-45 107 days
- Cantera 1839 107 days
- Cantera 1896 107 days
- Pioneer 45H21 107 days
- Pioneer 45H24 107 days
- Pioneer 45H25 107 days
- Pioneer 45H26 107 days
Source: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex4069/$FILE/100-32_2006.pdf
Average Fall Frost Dates
The average date of the first fall frost throughout most of Alberta is September 11 to 20. The first fall frost in areas north of Edmonton, Lloydminister and West of Calgary along the foothills is September 1 to 10, and around Medicine Hat is after September 20.
How Fast Can I Seed?
Simply put, you can seed as fast as the field conditions allow without sacrificing seed placement and depth. The biggest detriment to seeding too fast is inconsistent seeding depth as you move across terrain that varies with soil texture, moisture, stubble density and volume, elevation, etc. The soil flow around the openers changes with every foot so seed depth can change drastically, even from morning to night, knoll to foot slope and all point s in between.
Checking for seeding depth is not rocket science but it does take time and patience. It’s a good idea to have someone behind the machine to check depth across the implement and then make a few passes at alternating speeds to see what does the best job. Proper seeding depth pays huge dividends at harvest, especially in a crop like canola when you’re trying to estimate swath timing in a field that has three stages of maturity: too ripe, just right and shelling!
Source: Steve Larocque
Seeding Speed – How Fast is Too Fast?
Seeding too fast can cause a number of problems that impact emergence resulting in reduced crop yield and/or crop quality. The common speed range for most direct seeders is somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 mph, but the speed at which any field can be seeded will depend on a number of interactive factors. These include soil type, soil moisture, opener design, soil flow around the opener, the crop to be seeded, and the previous crop residue – to name just a few.
Article: http://www.beyondagronomy.com/newsletter/1_5_2007.htm
Market News
World Weather - Wheat
Weather forecasters continue to expect remaining dry areas in Europe to receive significant precipitation over the next week. Dryness is still a concern for major grain areas in Eastern Ukraine and parts of Russia.
Source: FIMAT
Canadian Prairie Hot & Wet Summer
My weather source predicted a cool and wet spring across the Prairies. He is also predicting, get this, a hot and wet summer similar to 1970. The main reason behind the prediction is due to the low sunspot activity, which increases ions, condensation nuclei, more suspended particles, clouds and wet weather. Low sunspot activity has shown to coincide with high wheat prices as I’ve mentioned in the past. He also predicts an August/ September dry spell in the US soybean growing area, which bodes well for oilseed prices.
Global Grain Stocks Forecast To Shrink Despite Record Production
The global grain market is expected to remain tight in 2007/08, as rapidly expanding consumption once again outstrips production. Consequently, world stocks are expected to be drawn down for the third straight year, falling to the lowest level in more than 25 years. As a result, grain prices are expected to be sustained at relatively high levels. With stocks already expected to come down in some key exporters, any further reduction in crop prospects could raise prices even more.
The global tightness in corn is driven by use in the US where, despite sharply larger acreage and forecast record production, the rapid expansion of use for ethanol will continue to cause tight stocks. For wheat, global consumption growth is more modest, and production is expected to recover in the United States, Australia, and the Black Sea region. However, smaller exportable supplies in other traditional exporters (Canada, EU-27, Argentina) mean that the international market remains tight. For rice, consumption is forecast to exceed record production, causing global stocks to continue to shrink.
Source: http://www.fas.usda.gov/grain/circular/2007/05-07/graintoc.htm
Canola Charts
Take a look at the November canola futures chart, and tell me what you see. I see four opportunities to make $15/tonne using futures and many more opportunities to grab $10/tonne. With the right plan in place and a commodity broker who’s working with you, we’ve had the opportunity to make $60/tonne in the last three months. I realize hindsight is 20/20 but we must know the opportunity we’re missing out on when sticking to the sidelines and simply using the futures to forward price our grain.
Source: Steve Larocque
Three Key Trends are Driving World Veg-oil Demand
The increase in world use of veg-oils is supported by three key trends: the growth of the biofuels sector driven by energy security and climate change concerns in the EU-27 and the US, the switch to healthier, or perceived to be healthier veg-oils, in the developed world’s diet resulting from the rising rates of cardio-vascular disease and obesity and by the economic and population growth across many developing countries, especially in China and India.
Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
