March 20, 2012

Weekly Welcome

Hello Reader

I was invited to speak to a farmer group last week in Saskatchewan which I really enjoyed. We had great conversations about foliar urea, vacuum planters in canola and spoon feeding nitrogen in wheat. I’m 80% through pre-spring visits with clients to fine tune last minute details so we’re all on the same page with pre-burn herbicides, in-crop herbicides, fertilizer, seeding rates and crop rotations. Seed sizes continue to amaze me as I calculate seeding rates-- 140 lbs/ac for 24 plants/ft2 with Champion feed barley. That’s big seed!

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll discuss the number one canola emergence killer and then we’ll take a look across the pond at how they use some very familiar products as plant growth regulators in canola. Last, we’ll keep with the canola theme and discuss another top canola yield robber called spray timing. We’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Fine tuning residue management behind rotary combines

What are your heavy harrows really doing?

One of the biggest killers in canola emergence is poor residue management behind rotary combines. Today’s fine-cut straw choppers do a fine job of turning straw into chaff which essentially doubles the fine particle load on the soil surface. These fine particles are impossible to move around with heavy harrows which make it useless as a straw management tool. If we intend to improve canola emergence, residue management is at the top of the list.

The photos you see here illustrate what I typically see behind rotary and conventional combines. The canola pushes its way comfortably through the conventional residue while the canola trying to emerge through the rotary fine cut chopper residue barely makes it. If the canola does make it, it finds itself no match for late-May frosts which are common in our area.

The thick mat of chaff behind rotary combines is a canola killer because it reduces phosphorus uptake, increases damping off, is phytotoxic and most of all, attracts frost for longer periods of time. I rarely find this situation with conventional combines. The majority of producers use heavy harrows behind conventional combines which actually do a decent job of moving the straw around because the tines have something to grab on to. The standard settings on most choppers behind rotary combines leave residue less that a few inches long which makes it impossible to move around with a heavy harrow. The result is a canola stand that is weak all season long and struggles at best to yield.

To get you started, I’ve listed a few changes that can be made to either shorten straw and spread it more evenly or increase straw length so it can be managed with heavy harrows:
• You can adjust the length of the straw by adjusting the rotor speed of chopper. Some have two or more speeds.
• The length of the chopped straw is controlled by the stationary knife which can be adjusted to different depths. An optional controller bar is also available to inhibit flow.
• Some combines allow you to adjust deflectors individually both in front and rear side. There are deflectors behind the discharge beater that can be adjusted to redistribute the straw mats into chopper.
• The rear side veins on some fine cut choppers are the only ones that are adjustable.
• The spreading width can also be set by adjusting spreading hood up and down.
• Deflectors can be adjusted for side wind compensation on he John Deere power cast system and Lexion combines.

Now, I’m not recommending we move back to conventional combines, nor am I giving you an exhaustive review of chopper settings on all makes and models of combines. I’m only suggesting we don’t need to turn straw into chaff with fine cut straw choppers. If you do have fine cut choppers behind a rotary combine, take the time to fine tune the width of the spread and the size of the straw. There’s too much money at stake to ignore one of the biggest canola killers in our system today. SL

Setting residue managers:

Pictured above: Canola emerging in conventional and rotary combine wheat residue.

Plant growth regulators in canola

Canola management strategies from the UK

At the risk of sounding like a rebel, I thought I’d let you know what other producers around the globe are doing to manage canola differently. My topic today takes me to the UK where growers are using plant growth regulators to reduce lodging, increase root growth and yield at the same time. The products they use have very familiar active ingredients like tebuconazole (Folicur EW) and metconazole (Caramba). Now unfortunately, Folicur and Caramba aren’t registered for use on canola in Canada but their actives do offer growth regulating properties.

The majority of our top yielding hybrid canola varieties rarely need help with lodging. However, lodging can be a problem in some cases when plant stand densities climb above 14 plants/ft2 or when planted on to heavily manured land. What I found most interesting was that products like Caramba encourage root production and the resulting increase in rooting depth can lead to higher yields.

I’ve included two charts here (top) which show the increase in canola rooting depth after varying rates of Caramba at two application timings and rates. The 1.2 L/ha rate of Caramba in the spring showed the greatest increase in rooting depth marked by a red line. The bottom chart shows the linear correlation between root density and yield in the 40cm to 100 cm depth. You will notice how yield increased as the root density increased from a low of 3.4 T/ha (60 bu/ac) to a high of 4.1 (73 bu/ac) T/ha. If PGR’s like Caramba are used to increase rooting depth and rooting depth is correlated to higher yields, perhaps there is something for researchers here to investigate.

I enquired about PGR’s with my trusted source Nick Ward who farms near Lincolnshire, UK and he gave me the low down on PGR’s in canola. Here are the details:

• Caramba is a good product but it can be a bit harsh if you get the rate wrong. It’s best to go with a low dose and increase the rate on lush patches. This makes it a great fit for variable rate applications.
• Only use it on an actively growing, lush crops as it can have a negative effect on struggling plants.
• We put it on at the very technical timing called "Wellie boot high" (green/yellow bud). It can be used later than this quite effectively also. This means that 2 low doses in sequence can be used.
• Watch out for dose rates as there are different concentrations of Caramba. In warm conditions on spring canola I'd probably start out around 0.2 to 0.3 lt/ha using Caramba 90 and see how that went.
• Tebuconazole will do the same thing as Caramba and is more gentle but you would need 1 L/ha of a 250gm/L tebuconazole to be equivalent to 0.6L/ha of metconazole 90. That choice comes down to the pricing of the two products.

I find it really interesting to see how the products we use in Western Canada are registered for different uses elsewhere in the world. The risk of using PGR’s in canola is unknown in Western Canada. Maybe it’s something we should consider for the high yielding areas of the Prairies or heavily manured fields. SL

Source:

Poor spray timing in canola is a serious yield robber

One of the biggest yield robbers in canola production today is poor spray timing. I know that sounds elementary but it’s a fundamental that needs to be addressed. There are two yield limiting factors when dealing with poor spray timing: 1) late weed removal and 2) applications beyond the recommended growth stage.

When it comes to using Liberty herbicide, people often wait until weed pressure is heavy enough to warrant one spray application to try and nail everything at once. Unfortunately, the product is weak on large weeds so waiting is not the right strategy. More importantly, a late application allows weeds to remove precious fertility and soil moisture. So, not only do you lose yield from weed competition, you lose yield from the removal of plant available nitrogen. Here’s a little quick math to show the importance of early weed removal.

Steve’s quick math:
Two-leaf wild oats, volunteer wheat or barley at 25, 50, 75 and 100 plants/ft2.
Yield loss 25ft2: 3 lbs/N or 1 bu/ac = $11.00/ac
Yield loss 50ft2: 6 lbs/N or 2 bu/ac = $22.00/ac
Yield loss 75ft2: 9 lbs/N or 3 bu/ac = $33.00/ac

In this example, yield losses range from 1 to 3 bushels per acre or $11.00 to $33.00 per acre based on the removal of nitrogen by grassy weeds. The photo you see above is a very common occurrence on the Prairies where Liberty Link growers wait as long as possible before spraying Liberty herbicide. Bayer has reduced the price of Liberty herbicide to encourage a two-pass system much like you’d find with RoundUp Ready canola. A mind shift needs to happen to have Liberty growers spray early at the cotyledon to 1 leaf stage much like they do in RoundUp Ready canola.

When it comes to RoundUp Ready canola, many people don’t realize how much yield can be robbed when canola is sprayed past the six-leaf stage. RoundUp Ready canola is often sprayed at what most would think is the six-leaf stage when in fact it is already bud stage. Applications made past the six-leaf stage can cause buds to abort which increases the potential for permanent yield loss. If you find yourself with several blank pods at the base of the stem, it could be due to late glyphosate applications. I’ve seen cases where late glyphosate applications cut yield by 30 and even 50%. At today’s canola price, that’s a few dollars shy of ridiculous or roughly $130.00 an acre.

So, this spring, be sure to get out and spray your Liberty Link canola early, even if you think weed pressure is too low. Chances are, like at pre-burn timing, there are legions out there that you just don’t see. Early weed removal is key with Liberty herbicide and usually you can let the canola do the rest when it canopies over quickly. With RoundUp Ready canola, it’s simple. Look down into the middle of the canola plant, if you see buds, you’ve missed the window and any yield loss from weed pressure is sure to be second to the loss you could see with a late glyphosate application. With canola margins the way they are, you had better be sure you’re doing everything to generate yield given it’s our highest paying crop once again. SL

Pictured above: Ipsum lorum, Dell naga photicia by Pieter Brown