July 17, 2012

Agronomists Notes

Hello Reader,

Last week’s hot temperatures really brought crops along quickly. There are a few areas in my territory that seem to be missing the timely rains and have started to show signs of stress and early leaf senescence. For the rest who’ve received timely rains before the heat wave, crops are holding on nicely. We had over an inch of rain over the weekend which is perfect timing as the wheat pollinates and canola and peas continue blooming. Even the flax in the area looks excellent and ahead of schedule as it reaches 50% bloom.

It’s hard to say how the high temperatures affected flowering wheat last week but I think we can safely expect slightly above average crops for 2012 across the board, barring many hot, windy days from now on.

This week we’ll look at the use of plant growth regulators in wheat and barley. Next, we’ll take another look at tram line kits and show you some surprising profit potential by using them. We’ll run some numbers on wheat midge damage to help you justify the cost of treatment if you reach threshold numbers this season. Last, I’ll run some numbers to show you some predicted harvest dates for wheat, barley, canola and peas. We’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Have a great week.

Photo: Stettler wheat inside a high yield trial near Airdrie, AB.

Crop Staging

(Calgary to Drumheller to Three Hills)

Seeded    Apr 24-30               May 1-7                  May 8-15
Wheat      watery ripe             end of flowering      start of flowering
Canola     70% bloom             50% bloom              30% bloom
Barley      milky dough            watery ripe              heads emerged
Peas        70% bloom             50% bloom              30% bloom

Steve's tips and tricks for the week

Follow me on Twitter for in-season updates @BeyondAgronomy

Look for patchy head emergence to pin point air drill issues, fertility or residue issues.
Continue scouting for wheat midge in fields that have yet to flower.
Continue scouting for diamondback moth larvae in canola
Continue scouting for stripe rust in wheat if you haven’t already applied a fungicide .
Watch for signs of aster yellows in canola. It’s rare but late seeded canola crops may be at risk for leaf hopper damage, which causes aster yellows.
Risk is high this week for sclerotinia development in canola less than 50% bloom. Canola at 50% or greater bloom stage may see late infections but is typically not economical to control.

Plant growth regulators key for pushing yield

Maximize fertility and maintain standability

I’m a firm believer that one of the biggest limiting factors in crop production today is lodging. We can do our best to balance crop nutrition but the simple fact remains, high nitrogen rates and high plant densities tend to lodge frequently. Through our high yield barley and wheat trials I’ve experimented with plant growth regulators to measure the risks and benefits of certain PGR’s. At first glance, PGR’s are definitely a game changer and will allow us to push yields further than before.

This year I’ve used Cycocel Extra which has the active ingredient Chlormoquat and is used extensively in Europe and New Zealand but mainly in wheat. I decided to try Cycocel Extra in wheat and barley this year to see how it performs. Well, the picture you see here says it all. This is a field of AC Metcalfe malt barley with 30 plants ft2 and a total of 170 lbs of nitrogen per acre, 100 lbs/N/ac as NH3 and 70 lbs/N/ac as ESN. The area on the right had 1 L/ac of Cycocel Extra applied at GS 32 which is the nearing the second node on the main stem and much later than we would have liked. The product arrived at the last minute so we were forced to apply it late. However, you can see in the photo that it did reduce lodging. The interesting part is that it did not shorten crop height in this case.

Last year we applied the product Ethrel which has the active ingredient Ethephon and works well. It does shorten plant height; I had Ethrel shorten Champion feed barley by 10 inches with an application of 300 ml/ac. More producers are trying Ethrel this year which is excellent but I feel the application timing is so delicate that it doesn’t have scalability. The ideal time is late boot stage where awns are just about to poke out on the main stem. This means you only have a couple of days at best, even hours, depending on how late the boot stage is before you loose the application window. Applying it outside the recommended window can hammer yields so I’m told.

Chlormoquat is less time sensitive and can be applied from tillering up until GS31 or the first node. The ideal time is around GS 30 where stems in wheat and barley just start to elongate. I have applied Chlormoquat a bit later as I mentioned above, but there isn’t a shortening effect like when it’s applied at an earlier growth stage like GS30.

There will be similar products on the market in 2013 from Engage Agro and ATP Nutrition that come at a reasonable cost hopefully. The Cycocel Extra we used this year was purchased out of the horticultural market and cost us $46.10 acre! Yes, it’s ridiculous but it is all in the name of research right? Thankfully ACIDF and the Alberta Barley Commission pitched in funds to help cover the costs of our additional inputs on our high yield trials.

We haven’t made it to harvest yet to know yield differences but visually, the wheat and barley trials are standing much better after an application of Chlormoquat, even in this type of year where plant height is shorter from the cooler late June, early July period. Keep an eye out for a product called Manipulator next year which has the active ingredient Chlormoquat. It may be just what you’re looking for to help you push yields a little further and improve harvestability. SL

Photo: High yield trial with AC Metcalfe barley using PGR versus no PGR. Photo source: S. Larocque

Tramline kits give back maturity, yield and profit

Lately, everywhere I look I see wheel tracks where maturity has been delayed from high clearance sprayers during late herbicide or fungicide applications. The issue I see with wheel tracks, even on 120ft sprayers with narrow tires is the yield loss and delay in maturity. Late maturing, green wheel tracks force most producers to desiccate or swath in order to ripen things up while the potential yield loss is shrugged off. Let’s run some numbers on what those wheel tracks cost us this year.

Steve's quick math
Supposing a 50% yield reduction in 3% of field from wheel tracks in 60 bu/ac wheat on a 160 acre field:
(160 ac × 3% × 50%) × 60 bu/ac × $7.50 bu = $1,080 or $6.75/ ac

In this scenario the loss is $6.75 acre, which works out to about $13,500 annually on a farm that grows 2,000 acres of wheat. Run the numbers across a 5,000 to 7,000 acre farm and the losses could be tens of thousands. The reality in some years may be the difference between a No.1 grade and feed because of the days lost waiting for crops to mature and a poor turn in the weather. That scenario would cost a producer over $100 an acre!

There are three solutions to this wheel track problem: tramline kits, controlled traffic farming or aerial applications. Of the three options, I really think producers should take a hard look at tramline kits if you’re not ready to move to CTF. The cost of a kit is roughly $2,500 plus installation. Once set up, the kit diverts seed into the next row leaving tram lines on the widths you've specified empty. All you need to know is the wheel width, tire spacing and boom length of your sprayer, and the width and row spacing of your seeder. From there it's a field switch that turns on the diverter every second or third pass depending on the width of your drill and sprayer.

From the yield data I’ve collected in the rows adjacent to our empty tram lines in our CTF system, I can tell you that yields almost double from what’s called the edge effect. The access to additional moisture, nutrients and sunlight on the rows adjacent to the empty tram line tends to increase the yield in those rows, much like an edge effect on a headland.

The downside to tram line kits is the need for RTK guidance and the additional cost to upgrade from WAAS, GreenStar or OmniStar. Tram line kits don’t work well without RTK because your sprayer will not follow the same tracks as your air drill. Those of you who have sprayed a field two or three times with WAAS signal understand there is no repeatability so it will not follow the same AB line each pass. Therefore, a tram line kit will do you no good unless you want to free hand every acre.

You may also wonder about late flushing weeds popping up in the empty tram lines. I can assure you that multiple passes with a sprayer on each tram line will create enough compaction to eliminate or significantly reduce the size of the weeds that do grow in the tram lines.

So, instead of giving up a 1.5 to 3% yield loss, delaying maturity and causing late green kernels from sprayer tracks, perhaps you should look at investing in a tram line kit. The investment could add another $6.75 acre in profit to your bottom line just in this small change in equipment. If you’re a farm who sprays fungicides each year, this technology is a must have. Visit the Amity website to find more information on tramline kits. SL

Photo: A tram line inside our CTF system. Photo source: S. Larocque

Valuing Yield Loss from Wheat Midge

I've heard talk that controlling wheat midge is still warranted even when the main stems have begun flowering yet the tillers have not. I was a bit suspicious of the economical control at first but after running the numbers it makes sense. Wheat will typically have one main stem and two tillers. Fifty percent of the yield comes from the main stem and the other 50% comes from the tillers. The potential yield loss from wheat midge at 1 per 4 heads is 15%. Adding in a grade loss, the price difference between a No.1 13.5 and No. 2 13.5 is $6.00 a tonne.

Steve's Quick Math

Yield potential: 60 bu/ac
Yield loss from tillers: 15% yield loss × 50% of yield from tillers = 7.5%
Yield loss potential: 60 bu/ac × 7.5% loss = 4.5 bu/ac
Yield loss = 4.5 bu/ac × $7.50 bu = $33.75
Revenue loss: $33.75 ac + ($6.00/tonne grade loss (60 bu/ac ÷ 36.744)) = $9.80 + $33.75 = $43.55
Cost of control = $8.00 for Lorsban and $8.00 for custom application = $16/ac

Total: $43.55/ac in losses - $16.00/ac to control = $27.55 an acre

In the end, the return on your $16.00 investment is $11.55 or 72%. Now, depending on the information you're receiving, the true economical loss can be hard to nail down. I've heard all sorts of yield loss potentials and thought this quick calculation was a good place to start. SL

Photo source: Saskatchewan Agriculture

Predict Harvest Using Growing Degree Days

The recent heat wave has brought crops along quickly and some producers are starting to ask for predicted harvest dates in barley and peas. Now a lot can happen between now and harvest but it is possible to estimate a possible harvest date. Predicting harvest dates by the calendar is very misleading so I use the growing degree day model to estimate when harvest will start.

All plant functions, such as evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, water and nutrient absorption and transport, enzyme activity, and other biological and chemical activities are regulated by temperature. For this reason, the development of the crop is more closely related to the amount of heat the crop is exposed to than calendar days. Other factors such as moisture, light (day length), nutrition and variety also play a role, but they generally have less influence.

Canola requires 1,432 to 1,557 growing degree-days (GDD's) to reach an optimum swathing stage of 40% seed colour change. Hard red spring wheat is similar to canola and requires 1,538 to 1,665 GDD's to reach maturity. Barley needs 1,269 to 1,522 GDD's. Surprisingly, peas need 1,527 to 1,686 GDD's to reach 90% seed colour change.

Let's do the math for wheat, barley and canola seeded near Three Hills, AB, on May 1st. The climate data provided on www.farmzone.com shows we've received 772 GDD's since May 1st. The average over the last 10 days has been 18 GDD per day, which is 3 GDD warmer than normal for this time of year. To calculate the predicted harvest date for our crops this fall, we'll use as estimated 15 GDD per day which is typical for the remaining weeks in July and August.

Let's finish the math:
Canola: 1,432 - 772 ÷ 15 = 44 days until swathing, August 29
Wheat: 1,538 - 772 ÷ 15 = 51 days until maturity, September 5
Barley: 1,269 - 772 ÷ 15 = 33 days until maturity, August 18
Peas: 1,527 – 772 ÷ 15 = 50 days until maturity, September 4th

So there you have it. I would encourage you to keep track of growing degree-days to help you estimate swath and harvest timing this fall. SL

Check out farmzone.com. Find your area and click on "Historical" data.