May 1, 2012

Agronomists Notes

Hello Reader,

A great deal of seeding progress was made last week with some producers completing 25%-30% of their acres. The majority of peas are planted with a good start on the wheat and malt barley. Canola planting will begin this week.

The western side of my territory is further ahead on seeded acres than the east after about an inch of rain fell last Thursday. For us, we’ve had 1.3 inches in the last four days which has given us some breathing room to install the liquid kit on the drill and to get the “new to you” Spray Coupe ready. It's also allowed us some time to completely re-engineer the Concord air tank to deliver high product rates more accurately and without plugging. Stay tuned for that outcome!

I spent a great deal of time chasing behind air drills of all makes and colors last week so I’ll give you some feedback on drill and opener performance. Next, we’ll look at herbicide options to control RR canola in front of Liberty Link canola. I’ll also show you how one gentleman converted his John Deere 8430 to run on singles as part of his move towards CTF. Last I’ll pass along a clarification on the effects of spray water pH on Express SG and Express Pro by DuPont. Grain market news will complete the issue.

Have a great week.

Steve’s tips and tricks for the week

For those with dual shank machines and clay soils, you may want to bring your fertilizer shank up a notch while you have time to avoid bringing up too much mud and clogging the packers.
Keep an eye on seeding depth after the rain. The ground is a lot mellower now after 6/10ths to 1 inch of rain.
Dandelions and narrow-leaved Hawk’s beard are reaching 4 inches across in many fields. Be sure to bump your glyphosate to 0.75 L/ac REL or more.

CNH 800 and P2070 precision drill openers

Dutch vs. CNH

I’ve had a chance to review the CNH 800 and P2070 precision drills in the field and compare the performance of the CNH double shoot opener (bottom) versus the Dutch sideband opener (top) like you see here. I’m pleased with the overall performance of the drills from its single shank design that provides excellent residue clearance and ground contouring which keeps openers in the ground through steep dips and dives. The two most popular openers for these drills are the CNH double shoot design and the Dutch 2-inch sideband opener.

The original Case double shoot opener came without any hard surfacing like the one shown here, which allowed it to travel through the soil smoothly without building up with soil. In the second year, hard surfacing was put on the opener to prevent wear and it affected performance. The hard surfacing caused excessive soil to build up on the opener, which increased the soil disturbance and compromised seed placement. Until Case decides to remove the hard surfacing this opener is not worth the money.

The Dutch 2-inch sideband opener built to attach to the CNH P2070/800 works really well with the shank design. The opener moves through the soil nicely without plowing and cleans off nicely to avoid soil building up on the opener. This opener maintains accurate seed placement, even in soils with high caly content.

I typically recommend the seed be placed down the back of the shank and the fertilizer to the side on this opener. The 2-inch wide furrow leaves more than enough room to put most phosphate-potash-sulphur blends with the seed and place urea to the side, even on 12” spacing.

I think Dutch has a winner here. Any wider than 2 inches and you’d start losing seeding depth accuracy, any narrower and you’d lose the ability to place adequate starter P-K-S. It flows through the soil nicely and creates a nice furrow. Two thumbs up for Dutch on this one! SL

Pictured above: The Dutch 2-inch sideband opener (top) out performs the CNH opener (bottom) in my opinion.

Controlling volunteer RR canola ahead of Liberty Link canola

The move towards tighter canola rotations has led to a significant increase in volunteer canola. Many producers are finding volunteer RoundUp Ready canola in fields that are slated for Liberty Link canola. The question becomes, how do I kill volunteer RR canola ahead of Liberty canola? There are three options available to producers, two registered and one not.

Option1. CleanStart $6.75/ac

Apply 15 ml/ac of carfentrazone (Gp 14) and ½ L/ac REL glyphosate (Gp 9). It can be applied pre-seed and post-seed just prior to emergence. IMPORTANT: It will not control cotyledon staged canola, only 1 to 3-leaf stage canola. The carfentrazone must come into contact with the growing point which is next to impossible with a cotyledon stage canola. It does give you a large window of application but you really want warm weather so plants are actively growing.

Option 2. Amitrol + ½ L/ac REL glyphosate $15.60/ac

Apply 1.7 L/ac of Amitrol (Gp 11) with ½ L/ac REL of glyphosate (Gp 9). This product can only be applied as a pre-seed burn down. Amitrol is a systemic herbicide which takes time to provide control. The benefit is that it can control cotyledon stage canola and takes time to kill volunteer canola but does control cotyledon to 4-leaf stage canola which gives you the option of applying it prior to seeding.

Some producers have used the 1 L/ac rate of Amitrol + ½ L/ac REL glyphosate if they are only targeting cotyledon sized canola. That brings the cost down to $10.00/ac but I would talk to a Nufarm rep beforehand.

Option 3. Liberty 1L/ac $7.00/ac

Apply 1 L/ac of Liberty as a pre-seed or post-seed application or at the cotyledon stage. This is a cost effective option although it is NOT REGISTERED. You really need temps in the high teens or low 20’s with sunny days. Also, you need decent coverage so bumping water volumes to 7.5 L/ac would be better than sticking to 5 gal/ac. SL

Converting a John Deere 8430 to run on singles

Moving to controlled traffic farming

Another producer is taking the bull by the horns and converting his equipment to implement a controlled traffic farming system in Alberta. I think it’s nice not to be the only nutter out here. James Jackson from Jarvie, AB has converted his John Deere 8430 to run on singles with 120-inch wheel spacing. He runs the 8430 along with a John Deere 4930 120-ft sprayer and a 30-ft John Deere 1895 disk drill.

The process to move the wheel spacing to 120-inch centres is straight forward on the John Deere 8430. The outside duals were removed and the inside tires were swapped and placed where the outside duals sat. The tires were also rotated so the treads faced forward and the dished side of the rims were facing out. The 701R – 38 tires sit perfectly at 120-inches on the outside rims with this configuration.

The total cost of the conversion to 120-inch centres was $3,377.41 for the cotton reels (part # RE267658) plus 8 hrs x 1.5 guys at the shop rate at John Deere. The tractor weighs roughly 30,000 lbs which will provide more than enough traction for its intended use. James plans on using this tractor to pull a land roller, heavy harrows and grain cart. He'll use the JD T series tracked tractor to pull the drill.

Converting to controlled traffic farming doesn’t have to be expensive. It also doesn’t have to happen over night. James is moving his axle and equipment widths to match over time while equipment is traded up or across. Nice work, comrade. Good luck this season. SL

Pictured above: A JD 8430 punched out to 120-inch centres. Photo source J. Jackson

New e-Turns system reduces CTF footprint on headlands
A company named Hemisphere GPS from Brazil has developed a technology called e-Turns which uses SpeedDrive X autosteer to control headland turning. This is of great benefit to many with CTF systems, especially those with smaller field sizes where headlands can make up 10 to 20% of the field. The type of system as I understand it has only been available through John Deere but e-Turns is an option for other tractor brands.

This technology eliminates the random traffic we experience on headlands, even in CTF systems.

Source

Addressing solubility and pH in spray water

Optimize pre-burn herbicide performance this spring

I had a great conversation with the technical rep from duPont who informed me that not all sulphonylureas act the same based on the pH of spray water. So to clarify, I ask their technical sales agronomist, Sonia Matichuk, to give us the low down on duPont’s pre-seed sulphonylurea (Gp. 2) herbicides.

“Tribenuron, the active ingredient in Express SG and Express Pro is not impacted by hard water and is not tied up. Express SG and Express Pro are more water soluble and biologically active at higher pHs. Our soluble granule formulations are designed to raise the spray tank pH and totally dissolve the active ingredient which is more readily taken up by weeds since the active ingredient is in the molecular form.

“Express SG and Express Pro are much less soluble at lower pHs which can result in poorer weed control and complicate sprayer cleanout. Hydrolysis amongst sulfonylureas does vary and tribenuron is one active ingredient where a low pH solution will cause rapid breakdown.

“The addition of water conditioners or additives like pHix or BB5 that lower the pH of the spray solutions are never recommended when Express or Express Pro are tank mixed with glyphosate.” Sonia J Matichuk, E.I. duPont, Canada