Agronomist Notes
What’s your seeding status? I have some clients that are 25-30% finished seeding and some haven’t turned a wheel yet. (I’m in that category.) We had two inches of rain at the farm last week, bringing April’s tally to three inches. We’ll take it!
In this week’s issue of Beyond Agronomy News, we’ll discuss the surprising results from my latest round of spray water quality tests. Then we’ll discuss the effect of row direction on yield with more surprising results. I’ll give you the latest on our progress with controlled traffic equipment modifications and also some thoughts on inter-row seeding. Fundamental and technical grain market news end the issue.
Agronomy
Spray water test results
Earlier this spring I’ve talked about the importance of testing your spray water to be sure you’re not losing herbicide efficacy. So, last week I had water samples from five clients plus our own well water tested- practice what you preach, right? Well, if you look at the chart here, our farm has the second highest level of bicarbonates out of all the samples I took. The most surprising discovery of all was that only one out of six samples passed the quality test.
Take a look at Farm 1 in the table. You’ll notice it has a bicarbonate level of 1490 ppm, the highest out of all the samples. Now bicarbonate levels over 300 to 400 ppm begin to reduce the efficacy of Group 1 active ingredients like tralkoxydim, sethoxydim, and clethodim. The products in this class include Achieve Liquid, Select/Centurion, Poast, and Pursuit Ultra. Farm 1 has almost four times the allowable level of bicarbonates and, coincidently, has experienced poor results with glyphosate and clethodim (Centurion/Select).
In the spring of 2008, we applied 750 ml/ac of Touchdown Total on Farm 1 and were dissapointed with the poor control of dandelions. In 2009, we had to respray a full rate of Centurion at 75 ml/ac because the reduced rate with the Liberty herbicide did zippo to the volunteer barley. That second application gave only moderate control. Given the water test results of 1490 ppm no wonder we had issues. To top it off, when I sampled the water from the storage tank I noticed iron stains. Iron is positively charged and ties up negatively charged glyphosate molecules which reduces efficacy.
So, if you haven’t had your water tested this spring, I urge you to do so. Of the samples I’ve taken so far, more than 80% have bicarbonate levels above the 400 ppm threshold. The addition of a water conditioner like pHix from Omex or BB5 from NutriAg is simple and costs less than $0.50 acre. If you’re seeing volunteer barley showing up in your LibertyLink canola or your glyphosate isn’t performing as well as you think it should, add a water conditioner to maximize your herbicide investment. SL
To learn more about spray water quality http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex7573
Which direction will you seed this year?
It has been long argued that seeding direction actually makes a difference in yield. I always believed that a north to south seeding direction produced the highest yields because you get equal amounts of sunlight from dawn till dusk on both sides of the plant. Planting in an east to west direction shades the north side of the plant throughout the entire day, thereby reducing solar capture. I haven’t had any research to back up my claim until now.
When you talk about row direction, several things come into play: your geographical location on the earth or proximity to the sun, the daylight hours throughout your growing season, the type of crop and the row spacing. I read an article recently in a bi-monthly glossy magazine we get here in Western Canada, which typically lies on the “top” of my inbox. You know the one. It highlighted some amazing results from research in Western Australia. The research looked at the effects of row direction on weed growth and yield in wheat, barley, canola, peas, and lupines from 2002 to 2005. Interestingly enough, wheat and barley showed significant yield increases when planted east to west and not north to south. In fact wheat showed a 24 percent increase in yield and a 26 percent yield increase in barley. Huge gains, I’d say. (Truthfully, I can’t ignore the main reason for the yield increase, which was found to be reduced weed competition.) The results of the canola, field peas, and lupine trials did not show a significant difference between the two row directions. Row direction had no effect on yield with these broadleaf crops.
To translate the Aussie research into Canuck, consider that geographical location is at play here. The Western Australian Wheat Belt ranges from 28 degrees to 33 degrees South in latitude with a winter and spring growing season, making east-west crop orientation the most advantageous. Our wheat belt in Western Canada ranges from 49 to 55 degrees North in latitude with a spring and summer growing season, making north to south row direction the most optimal.
In the end, it’s your location on the planet and your growing season that determines which direction crops should be planted for the best utilization of sunlight. Latitudes up to 55 degrees North benefit from north-south crops in the summer and east-west crops the rest of the year. For us here in Western Canada, is north to south my friends, north to south. SL
Full text of the article, “Manipulating Crop Row Orientation to Suppress Weeds and Increase Crop Yield,” Weed Science, Volume 58, Issue 2, March-April 2010, is available at: http://www2.allenpress.com/pdf/WEES_58.2_174-178.pdf.
Controlled traffic modification update
We now have our suspended boom Brandt pull-type sprayer wired into the tractor, after some issues, and we have a confirmed wireless RTK fix on our reciever. Chris Nelson from AccuFarm was out to complete the autosteer install and apparently the old girl (1981 PTA 325) has a little play in the steering wheel. It should be entertaining to watch the ball on the autosteer keep the steering wheel in line with the one sub-inch accurate RTK reciever.
We finished the primary and secondary hoses on the air drill and have the back axles on the tank cut down 14 ¼” on each side and bolted back on. We chose to run eight port distributors on the seed runs and seven port distributors on the fertilizer runs. We have 30 openers in total and have decided not to fertilize in the tramline. We’ll put seed down the tramline to keep the weeds down this year. In year two we may or may not seed in the tramline but have the option of double seeding on either side of the tramline. We’ll fashion up four Y-shaped adaptors to run two seed tubes down one run on each side of the tramline.
The offset hitch has been created and installed on the air tank. The offset hitch on the front of the drill will be finished Tuesday. The new hitches will allow us to inter-row seed each year without having to move off the tram lines. We’ll keep the tank and tractor in the tramlines and just shift the drill each year. Last task will be checking tire pressures on all the packers and castor wheels. We’ll be ready and very excited for a test run hopefully by the end of the week when the ground dries up, if it does. SL
So what crop do I seed first?
This information is used to help you decide which crops offer the most profitable cropping sequence, especially in a late spring. This year it looks like some producers may throw cropping sequence out the window and seed whatever field is dry, but if you’re sitting on the fence wondering which crop to seed, this information may help.
Average seeding dates before yields start to decline
| Soil Zone | Canola | Wheat | Barley | Peas |
| Black | 7-May | 7-May | 21-May | 7-May |
| Thin Black | 7-May | 14-May | 21-May | 7-May |
| Dark Brown | 7-May | 14-May | 14-May | 30-April |
| Brown | 30-April | 7-May | 7-May | 30-May |
Source: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/crop5757?opendocument
Market News
Technical Analysis
Canola: November futures. The short and long term trends are up.
HRS Wheat: December futures. The short term trend is up and the long term trend is down.
Corn: December futures. The short term trend is up and the long term trend is down.
Soybeans: November futures. The short term trend is up and long term trend is down.
Canadian Dollar: June futures. The short term trend is down and the long trend is up.
US Dollar Index: June futures. The short term trend is down and the long term trend is up.
Crude Oil: April futures. Long and short term trends are up.
