July 16, 2013

Agronomist Notes

Hello Reader

We had a great day and an excellent turn out at our CTF field day last Thursday. I always enjoy the good conversations that pop up and I was particularly excited about the number of people looking to adopt CTF.

A few scattered showers fell across my territory last week and crop conditions are looking very good. At this stage, heading, it’s easy to spot issues with wheel tracks, residue and seeding. Insect counts have been kept low with low to moderate disease pressure at this time. Fungicides have been laid down across all crops this year after a wet May-June. The 14-day temperature outlook hovers in the mid 20’s C with lows in the mid teens. That’s not great for pushing maturity but awesome for building high yields.

This week in Beyond Agronomy News we’ll look at tile plowing to correct areas with poor drainage. Next, we’ll look at a cool concept from Ontario on how to seed cover crops using a side dress toolbar. We’ll also take a brief look at identifying nutrient deficiencies with a handy flow chart to help you diagnose symptoms. We’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Photo: Roger Andreiuk talks about soil type at the the field day last week. S. Larocque

Crop Staging

(Calgary to Drumheller to Three Hills)

Seeded May 1-7 May 8-15 May 15-22
Wheat End of flower Heads emerged Heads emerging
Canola 80% bloom 60% bloom 50% bloom
Barley Milky dough Watery ripe Heads emerged
Peas Late-flower Mid-flower Early-flower

Steve's tips & tricks of the week

Follow me on Twitter for in-season updates @BeyondAgronomy

July 15th was the cut-off date for herbicide product inquires for most herbicide manufacturers. Make sure you’ve got your post-herbicide check completed and call it in quickly if there are weed escapes.
Canola planted the first week of May is now past 50% bloom. Sclerotinia fungicide is likely not beneficial unless you predict cool, wet weather for the next several weeks with an extended bloom period.
Wheat planted first two weeks of May have finished flowering so it’s now out of the risk window for wheat midge.
Continue to watch disease movement up the canopy in cereals. A late fungicide application at heading in cereals can still provide a big yield bump.
Check fields with histories of annual sow thistle; I’ve noticed a second flush of annual sow thistle in the last ten days. If you have fields with thin canopies or late maturity, give those fields a second look to avoid surprises later.

Correcting drainage problems

Gold Digger tile plow

There are thousands of acres of cropland that suffer from poor drainage each year. Water ponding with nowhere to escape and high water tables cause significant yield loss. Aside from yield loss, the excessive overlap, lodging and time spent going around these areas is very costly. One unique solution to correct drainage problems is tile plowing like the one you see here. Craig Shaw at Lacombe and Mike Sulzle laid over 10,000 ft of tile this spring with the Gold Digger tile plow. I caught up with them to see a demo a few weeks back and went through some of the finer points on the use of this plow.

Video of the tile plow in action

Top twenty reasons to tile plow

The Gold Digger tile plow is made by a company called Soil-Max out of Brazil, Indiana and has distributers in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. The pull-type tile plow has a maximum working depth of 6.5 feet and requires 400+ horsepower to pull. The limiting factor is usually traction, not horsepower to pull these units. You can purchase tile boots in 4, 6, 8 and 10-inch sizes, giving the ability to install 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10-inch pipe.

The cost of the tile plow is roughly $30,000. Then you add the Ag Leader monitor, Intellislope software and stringer trailer to carry the tile for another $20,000. Next, you have to run RTK guidance so add another $20,000 for a total of $70,000. The fabric-socked tile costs roughly $0.75 per foot for 4-inch tile, relatively inexpensive. The socked tile is recommended for sandier soils to avoid plugging in the future. Tile without socks is cheaper still. The 6-inch socked tile costs $1.50 per foot and is normally used for main lines while the 4-inch lines are normally run into the 6-inch main lines.

The tile installation is a relatively simple process. You survey the area you want to tile by hitting the start button on survey mode. Then, you drive across the area you want to drain (with the plow out of the groundf). The Intellislope software calculates the optimim slope for proper drainage automatically and you begin tiling where you finished the survey. A small excavator is a handy tool to dig holes at the starting point of your drain to drop the plow into. The travel speed is roughly 1 to 1.5 mph but even at that speed you can lay 8,000 feet of tile an hour non-stop. Craig and Mike laid tile in selective areas that had shorter runs, which added some time in surveying and installation.

Now, after choking on the $70,000 cost, we need to do a little Steve’s quick math to see how quickly you could generate an ROI with this unit. The beauty of the tile plow is that it can be shared with neighbors or sold within a year or two to recoup most of your investment. Here we go:

Steve’s quick math
Cost of tile plow: $70,000 (plow) plus $20,000 (tile) = $90,000
Inputs: $200.00/ac, seed, fert, chemical
Lost revenue from drowned areas: $400ac
Total lost revenue $600.00/ac
Total acres needed to reclaim for ROI: 150 acres

In this example, you could generate an ROI within one year if you could bring 150 acres back into production. Cost sharing the plow with a neighbor or selling for 30% less when you’re done plowing may only take 60 acres to generate an ROI in one year. You can amortize the cost anyway you like but the benefits are quick and real. Often you’ll have water running out of the tile before you’re finished laying it. That’s how quickly it works.

For those who struggle with excess moisture in areas across the farm, you may want to look into the Gold Digger tile plow. I was very impressed with the simplicity of the unit and how well it works. It may be a great reclamation tool on less expensive, low-lying land. It's also the best way to bring land you already own into production. With land rents and land prices so high and new land hard to come by, I think reclaiming land with tile drainage is the next big step to increase production. Thanks to Craig and Mike for sharing their thoughts. Much appreciated. SL

For more on the Gold Digger Tile Plow go <here>

Seeding cover crops another way

The beauty of a side dress toolbar

The use of cover crops is a hot topic these days and can be used for a myriad of reasons. In the wet areas of the corn belt they are used to absorb excess moisture and nitrates. They are also used as a way to introduce crop diversity inside a tight corn-soybean rotation. In the drier areas of the Prairies people are experimenting with cover crops to reduce compaction with tillage radishes or fix nitrogen with legumes like vetch and red clover. Some are using annual ryegrass, buckwheat, crimson clover, sunflowers or a mix of a few to add biodiversity for soil health.

The barrier to adopting cover crops is A) its still a new concept and B) it’s another trip over the field. Ed Hanson from Ontario has addressed those concerns and sent me a photo of his nitrogen side dress toolbar, which is outfitted with APV seeding unit to sow cover crops simultaneously in standing corn. Ed has a custom side dressing business and has added custom seeding to the mix using cover crops. In one pass he can apply nitrogen and plant cover crops, which is a win-win when you have a side-dress toolbar

Now move west to the dry Prairies and the side dress toolbar could also be outfitted with a seeding unit like a valmar to plant cover crops. You could begin adding legumes to help build nitrogen levels before fall. You could add tillage radishes to help break up compaction or add forage grasses to extend the grazing season. Anyway you look at it. The use of a side dress toolbar becomes more valuable than just a tool for applying nitrogen. SL

The side dress toolbar is equipped with an APV seeding unit like you see in the photo above. Click here for more.

Pictured above: An APV seeding unit on a side dress tool bar in corn. Photo source: Ed Hanson, Ontario.

Diagnosing nutrient deficiencies

Late flag leaf and early flowering is a great time to inspect nutrient deficiencies in cereals and oilseeds. Tell tale signs begin to show up in the middle of peak demand and require some skills to diagnose but nothing you would need a PhD to do. In the last week I’ve started to see signs of chlorotic (whitening) leaf margins and tips, classic potassium deficiency, chlorosis along the leaf veins in wheat around wet areas, classic iron deficiency and interveinal chlorosis in wheat, classic magnesium or if speckled appearance manganese deficiency.

If you’re curious and want to know more about diagnosing nutrient deficiencies visually go to this great online resource put on by Montana State University. It provides you with a simple flow chart to help you narrow down each nutrient deficiency for both mobile and immobile nutrients. Once you diagnose the symptoms, sending away tissue samples would be a great way to help you fine tune your diagnostic skills. Click here.

Also, here is a great free app from IPNI showing you crops and nutrient deficiency symptoms in wheat, barley, canola and more. SL

Spray Myths according to Tom Wolf

@nozzle_guy

Tom Wolf is a well-known Ag Canada researcher who's spent decades studying spray and nozzle technology. He is a wealth of knowledge and now on Twitter! He's been tweeting some great info on sprayer facts and figures. If you have a spray technology question give Tom @nozzle_guy a tweet and ask away. Here are his five recent tweets on spray myths:

#SprayMyths 1: “Pressure forces spray into canopy.” When sprayer moving, press dissipates b4 it reaches canopy. Better to slow down
#SprayMyths 2: “More water leads to runoff.” Not at vols <100 gpa. Happens only if drops too large, surfactant wrong for leaf.
#SprayMyths 3: “Drift no issue for fungicide & insecticide.” These can harm water, birds, humans etc. Good stewardship always.
#SprayMyths 4: “Faster speed saves time.” But problems with dust, drift, penetration, tracks. Consider faster fill, wider boom.
#SprayMyths 5: “Double nozzle = more droplets.” Not true if drop size, vol stays same. Better to say “finer spray = more droplets”.