April 17, 2012

Agronomists Notes

Hello Reader,

Producers have just started to scratch the ground and begin seeding peas, some early wheat and malt barley. I had a chance to help a client fine tune their drill last Wednesday and the smell of soil and diesel has got me itching to get going! Ground temps are cool, between 0 and 5 degrees C so I dare say anything will pop out of the ground quickly. The fourteen day forecast is calling for temperatures into the low teens with one day above 20 degrees C and some possible showers. It looks like we’ll be off to a good start next week if the weather holds.

In this week’s issue, we’ll start with a great collection of nozzle resources to help you select the best ones for your system. Next, I’ve included a list of pre-seed herbicide options for 2012. Then we’ll look at how to boost maturity through seeding rates and finish with a call for applications to the Canadian Nuffield Scholarship before the deadline on April 30, 2012. We’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Have a great week.

Photo above is no-till pioneer Gordon Hilton, in his early 80's standing beside his Harley Davidson edition F-150 with a 530STX QuadTrak and 70 ft Case 800 precision drill in the background.

All you wanted to know about nozzle selection

I've been answering several questions about nozzle selection lately and I thought I would pass along some great information from Dr. Tom Wolf, leading nozzle technology specialist at the Ag Canada office in Saskatoon. Tom sent me a spreadsheet that helps calculate droplet size based on speed, pressure and nozzle type. He also provided me with info on frequently asked questions, selecting a new sprayer, spray pressures and a nozzle update. I encourage you to down load and print off these documents for your records, it's great information! SL

Link to pdf's

If you have a question for Tom, you can email him at Tom.Wolf@agr.gc.ca

Pictured above: 80 degree nozzles on JD 4730 owned by Robert Ruwoldt

Pre-seed herbicide options for 2012
Let's run through the list of the most common products and tank mix combinations. We won't highlight all the combinations or all the weeds on the labels, but rather focus on the more common resolutions. With all the combinations listed below, pretty much each one can be topped up to 1.0 REL of glyphosate for enhanced performance.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL $1.25/ac and 1.0 REL $2.50/ac
Crops: all crops
Timing: pre-seed or post-seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, non-RR volunteer canola
Improved performance at 1.0 REL: rosettes > 6 inches, shepherds' purse (bolting), larger annual weeds, winter annual or biennials, kochia, quackgrass, dandelion, narrow-leaved hawk's beard, and many others.

Glyphosate 1.0 REL plus 2,4-D Amine or Ester 0.2 l/ac (0.2 to 0.68 l/ac) $4.58/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, rye
Timing: pre-seed or post-seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola (up to 4 leaf). Improved performance for many additional broadleaf weeds.

Glyphosate 1.0 REL plus MCPA Amine or Ester 0.2 l/ac (0.2 to 0.5 l/ac) $4.86/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, canary seed, corn, flax, forage grasses, oats, rye
Timing: pre-seed or post-seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola (up to 4 leaf). Improved performance for many additional broadleaf weeds.

Glyphosate 1.0 REL plus Buctril M @ 0.2 l/ac (0.2 to 0.4 l/ac) $5.63/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, canary seed, corn, flax, forage grasses, oats, rye
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola (up to 4 leaf). Improved performance for many additional broad leaved weeds including wild buckwheat and scentless chamomile

Glyphosate 1.0 REL plus Pardner @ 0.2 l/ac (0.2 to 0.5 l/ac) $6.13/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, canary seed, corn, flax, forage grasses, oats, rye
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola (up to 4 leaf). Improved performance for many additional broadleaf weeds including wild buckwheat and scentless chamomile.

CleanStart 0.5 REL glyphosate plus carfentrazone $6.75/ac
Crops: all crops
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola (up to 2 leaf). Improved performance by increasing water rates up to 10 gal/ac to ensure better coverage.

PrePass 0.5 REL glyphosate plus florasulam $5.83/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, oats
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, LL & RR volunteer canola. Limited control of Clearfield volunteer which has not emerged. Excellent control on cleavers, dandelions <6 inches, narrow-leaved hawk's beard, wild buckwheat and stork's bill. Residual control of 7-14 days.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Express SG $4.85/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, oats, canary seed, dry beans, peas, forage grasses, forage legumes
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/ prior to emergence
Target Weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola. Excellent control of dandelions <6 inches, narrow-leaved hawk's beard, wild buckwheat and white cockle suppression.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Express Pro $5.35/ac
Crops: wheat, barley
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola.
Excellent control of dandelions <6 inches, narrow-leaved hawk's beard, wild buckwheat, cleavers, stork's bill, scentless chamomile, night flowering catchfly and suppression of white cockle and toadflax. Residual control of 7-14 days.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Heat (10.5g) plus Merge (200 ml/ac) $6.23/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, oats, canary seed, peas, corn, lentils, soybeans
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola. Excellent on managing group 2 resistant weeds. Very quick and aggressive results.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Heat (28.1g) plus Merge (200 ml/ac) $12.68/ac
Crops: wheat, barley, oats, canary seed, peas, corn
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola. Residual control at the 30 acre rate for kochia, cleavers, wild buckwheat, red root pigweed, stinkweed, wild mustard, and volunteer canola.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Authority (118 ml/ac) $20.46/ac or
Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Authority (95 ml/ac) $16.62/ac
Crops: chickpeas, peas, flax, summerfallow
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, and all volunteer canola. Season long control of kochia, lambs quarters, redroot pigweed and wild buckwheat. Rates vary according to soil texture and organic matter. Requires moisture within 7-10 days for optimum activity. Re-cropping restrictions: 12 months for barley, wheat, corn, and alfalfa, 24 months for canola, 36 for lentils.

Glyphosate 0.5 REL plus Prepare (8.7g) $8.73/ac
Crops: wheat (spring, no durum)
Timing: pre-seed or post seed/ prior to emergence
Target weeds: annual grasses, annual broadleaves, all volunteer canola, wild oats, green foxtail, Japanese brome, downy brome, barnyard grass, foxtail barley. Allows an early start on wild oat control and gives residual control for wild oats and green foxtail. SL

Optimize maturity with custom seeding rates

Whether or not your seeding has been delayed this spring, it's vitally important to optimize your plant stand densities to avoid maturity delays. As we know, a thin plant stand can lead to excessive tillering and delayed maturity. A plant will develop a leaf or tiller every three to five days after emergence depending on temperature and moisture. If a plant is given enough room to grow by reducing the competition within each row, it will continue to produce tillers. For example, a wheat plant may produce an additional two tillers in a non-competitive environment. If that plant takes three to five days to produce each tiller, the maturity of that plant will be reduced by six to ten days when compared to a plant that has adequate inter-row competition through optimum seeding rates. Remember, 50% of yield comes from the main stem and 50% comes from the next two tillers. Any more than two tillers on a wheat crop is a waste of energy and a detriment to maturity.

To give you an example why the two bushel an acre seeding rate rule can cause excessive tillering, have a look at the table above. I have nine samples and three varieties of wheat ranging from 46 grams to 35 grams per 1,000 kernels. For my clients, I've targeted a plant stand density of 30 plants ft2 with seeding rates ranging from 151 lbs/ac to 113 lbs/ac. If you look at the table you can see that if I recommended a two bushel an acre seeding rate, we'd be 20% under the mark with CDC Go and 6% over with Unity. There wouldn't be enough plant competition with CDC Go and there would be too many plants seeding Unity at two bushels an acre.

Successful farming is about optimizing all the little details. A simple boost in plant stand density can help produce higher yields and improve maturity. For those of you who will be pushing the limit on maturity this year, stop guessing and start measuring. SL

Seeding Rate Calculator
Seeding rate (lb/ac) = desired plant population/ft² x 1,000 K wt. (g) ÷ seedling survival rate (in decimal form such as 0.90) ÷ 10.4

Canadian Nuffield Farming Scholarships Deadline is April 30, 2012

Nuffield Farming Scholarships are awarded to enthusiastic individuals, with a passion for agriculture and a desire to expand your knowledge, pursue new ideas and to share your findings with others. Applicants should be in mid-career, between the ages of 30 and 45 (although exceptions are made) and must have a minimum of five years agricultural business or farming experience plus the management ability to step away from their current duties. The Scholar must travel for a minimum of ten weeks, with a minimum leg of six consecutive weeks.

Three scholarships of $15,000 each are available this year.

To apply visit Nuffield.ca

Here's my response to someone who asked me about Nuffield: "I've been around the world three times, been connected to and befriended by some of the finest, most passionate and innovative farmers anywhere. As a direct outcome of my studies, I am the first to bring home and implement one of the most revolutionary farming practices since direct seeding. I've become a greater ag advocate, a better businessman, and a better father. I regularly converse with people from around the world, an ag resource base 1,200 people strong and get to live vicariously through fellow Scholars each year when I'm not traveling. When I do travel, I have hundreds of places to stay anywhere in the world that include great conversation and amazing hospitality. Is it worth it to apply? I think yes.” Steve Larocque