April 10, 2012

Agronomists Notes

Hello Reader,

Well, the time has come. Some of my larger farm clients will kick off planting next week while they fine tune equipment for wheat, peas and malt barley. The ground temperatures are still hovering just above freezing but the ten-day forecast looks warm so I suspect soil temperatures will climb very soon.

I have a wheat test plot in my back yard that was planted into black soil on March 22nd. It hasn’t emerged yet but coleoptile and radical development look good. So, you could start seeding early this year if you choose but you may be no further ahead in crop stage if you waited another ten days. It all comes down to how pressed you are for time and how much drill power you have.

In this issue we’ll discuss file sharing and remote computer access programs to help you share and retrieve farm data on the go. Next, I’ll quickly show you a video outlining a wheat-canola-barley rotation and how it effects inter-row seeding. We’ll look at a couple of pre-seed residual weed control strategies that I use when weed growth is slow and then finish with tips to optimize herbicide performance this spring. Last, as always is technical grain market news.

Have a great week.

File sharing, remote control desktops & telematics

There is a ton of information being stored on our laptops, desktops, tablets and smart phones these days. Each device has its own use, for example I have a laptop to edit and publish the newsletter, a laptop I use to visit clients and store farm client data, a tablet for field scouting and a smart phone, well, a smart phone because I really enjoy paying telephone companies exorbitant amounts of money.

I polled my Twitter audience to find out what file sharing and remote desktop software programs they (agronomists and farmers) are using to make data transfer easier and more reliable at home and in the field. Here are the top file sharing and remote access software programs on the market.

1. Dropbox
Dropbox allows you to access files from any computer, tablet or smart phone through a shared folder. You simply download the software on your device and you can store and access up to 2.5 GB of files before you have to pay for it. You must drag and drop files into the folder you wish to share or retrieve. You can invite others to share your folder or login to the Dropbox website to retrieve your files.

2. Syncplicity
Much like Dropbox it allows you to access files from any device with up to 2 GB of free storage before you have to pay, which is a little less than Dropbox. It captures all the folders and files you tell it to and synchronizes them whenever you make a change or correction to a file.

3. Evernote
Another file sharing software that allows you to access websites, voice notes, files and notebooks with up to 60 GB of free storage per month, significantly more than Syncplicity or Dropbox.

4. Remote Desktop
This software offers a quick, no-hassle set up to remotely control your computer from any PC, Mac, tablet or iphone and Android but not Blackberry’s. You can access your desktop from anywhere and work on your computer like you would at home. It does have file sharing, auto-sync’s files and meeting tools but it comes at a price of $70.00 per year.

5. Team Viewer
Offers a quick and easy remote control setup to access your desktop from any device with a web browser excluding blackberry smart phones. You can transfer files for free on this one and it is very user friendly. The downside is that you have to remember a login and password to access your desktop remotely. I have this one and it’s pretty cool to see your laptop screen on your blackberry device.

6. Unlock Ignition
This is a standalone software program that you download on to your computing device and does not require a web browser. It allows you to remotely control your desktop for free but if you want file sharing, auto-sync’s files and meeting tools you’ll have to pay $39.95 per year.

7. RDM
This remote desktop software is the only one that allows you to control your PC or Mac desktop from a Blackberry device. It does cost $39.00 but has a free trial if you want to test drive it. It also doesn’t have file sharing but you can view the files on your computer from your smart phone. From experience, you can view your desktop from a Blackberry but it’s brutally slow, the file viewing in my documents was quick. SL

Inter-row seeding

Does wheat stubble affect our ability to inter-row seed?

I’ve often been asked whether wheat in the rotation hinders our ability to inter-row seed. Wheat stubble, because of its high C:N ratio (90:1) takes a lot longer to break down compared to barley, canola or pea residue. I took the time to go over one of fields that was planted to wheat in 2009, canola in 2010 and barley in 2011 to show you the effects of crop rotation on inter-row seeding.

You’ll see in the video that wheat straw in our area breaks down easily by year three and poses no threat to seed placement. Instead of shifting side to side 6 inches each year on our 12-inch row spacing, we developed an offset hitch that moves the drill 3 inches each year. It pulls 3 inches to the left of centre one year, 3 inches to the right of centre the next and then from the centre of the hitch in year three. This lets us tuck nicely between the rows and allow residue to break down before we plant into it on the third year. To view the video, click here. SL

Pictured above: Three years of residue will pose no problems for us when we inter-row seed this spring. Source: S. Larocque

Early season residual weed control strategies

It's very common to have little to no weed growth in mid to late-April when ground temperatures are cool. We all know the value of pre-seed burn down but struggle with spraying when it seems there are no weeds present. If you find yourself in this situation and want to control flushing weeds like volunteer canola or cleavers, here are two options:

1. Apply PrePass A (florasulam) alone at 40 ml/ac and leave out the PrePass B (glyphosate). If there aren't any grassy or perennial weeds, I've had great success controlling flushing cleavers, volunteer canola, flixweed, shepherd's-purse, narrow-leaved hawk's beard, stinkweed and wild buckwheat. It's amazing how many weeds germinate after the ground is disturbed at seeding and skipping the pre-burn is often regretted. The unused PrePass B can be saved and used on another field in the future.

2. Apply Express Pro at 7 g/ac with a surfactant like Agral 90 at 2L/1000L to give residual control of volunteer canola, seedling dandelions, flixweed, narrow-leafed hawk's beard and wild buckwheat. I've had great success with this option and it's more convenient than splitting a case of PrePass as suggested above. SL

Optimize pre-burn herbicide performance this spring

Pre-burn herbicide timing is the worst possible time of year to ask any product to perform well. Conditions in late-April and early-May are often cold, windy, and frosty with low daylight hours. This can lead to poor herbicide performance and many producers tend to increase their glyphosate rates to improve uptake. However, poor performance can be linked to poor water quality and not just weather conditions. The two most undetected problems associated with poor pre-burn herbicide performance are pH and hard water.

Did you know that on average, up to one third of your glyphosate and sulphonylurea (Express and Express Pro) can be tied up in the spray water before you even apply the herbicide? This is alarming, but the severity depends on how hard your water is. That being said, how many producers know how hard their water is? Here's the chemistry behind the problem: glyphosate and sulfonylurea molecules are negatively charged and are naturally attracted to positively charged cations like potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc and sodium. Once the herbicide attaches to a cation, it becomes insoluble and can no longer be taken up by the plant.

The next hindrance to herbicide uptake is the pH of the spray water. High pH spray water can cause alkaline hydrolysis which breaks down the active ingredient in the herbicide. In high pH water, it may take only a few minutes to lose a significant amount of active ingredient. Unfortunately, most town and well water has a pH of 7 or above. To reduce the effects of alkaline hydrolysis, maintain a spray solution pH between 5 and 6.5.

There are a couple of ways to reduce water hardness and balance pH in your spray water. The first is by adding ammonium sulphate (AMS). The ammonium component of AMS is positively charged and competes against other cations to attach itself to glyphosate. The resulting ammonium-glyphosate molecule is easily absorbed into the plant because it sees it as a nitrogen source. The downside with AMS is that it only ties up calcium, leaving other cations like potassium, magnesium, iron and sodium to tie up glyphosate and sulphonylurea. Also, AMS has a limited acidifying effect and can only drop the pH down to 4.5 in the spray solution. Products like glyphosate cannot be tied up when the pH of the spray water reaches below 4.5.

To calculate how much AMS you need follow this formula:

Amount of AMS Liquid (8-0-0-9) (Litres per 100 gallons of water) = [0.009 × (ppm calcium) + 0.005 × (ppm sodium) + 0.002 × (ppm potassium) + 0.014 × (ppm magnesium)] × 1.2 (Conversion of US to Imp. gallons)

Another option is using a water conditioner like pHix by Omex and BB5 by NutriAg. These products contain negatively charged ions that bind to the cations which normally tie up glyphosate and sulphonylureas in the spray water. I prefer these products because they actively tie up the cations that cause hard water instead of trying to compete against them like AMS plus a lot less product is required. Second, conditioners often contain surfactants that help improve plant uptake by reducing the surface tension of the water droplet so it lays flat on the leaf surface. This provides more area for the herbicide to enter the plant. Last, conditioners like pHix and BB5 have pH adjusters which can take the spray solution pH down below 4, a level that chemically alters the ability for cations to bind to glyphosate or sulphoylureas.

The cost of ammonium sulphate can run you $1 an acre or more and it doesn't tie up all the cations that attach themselves to glyphosate and sulphonylureas. A water conditioner like pHix costs around $0.50 acre while BB5 is between $0.50 and $1.50 depending on how hard you're your water is. So, before you head out this spring, be sure to have your water tested so you're getting the most out of your herbicide dollar. The additional $0.50 acre could give you a 3:1 return on your investment and improve performance so you don't have to spend extra money on in-crop herbicides trying to kill the same weeds you targeted at pre-seed burn-off. SL

For more product information follow these links: BB5 , pHix