Less than ideal conditions have slowed down canola development and left the crop vulnerable to tiny 2.5 millimetre beetles in some areas this spring.Flea beetles are the number one pest in canola on the Western Canadian Prairies.In this Canola School episode, we talk with Tyler Wist, entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, about how you should… Read More
Category: Crop Schools
How much will that field yield?That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson is often asked when talking with growers. In this episode of Wheat School, he reviews the formula for estimating wheat yield. Johnson says it can be difficult to peg yield because testweight is a wildcard that can be tough to eyeball and it… Read More
Harvest weed seed control has been widely adopted in Australia as a tool in fighting herbicide resistance. When it comes to North America, farmers in southern States, such as Arkansas, have started implementing these concepts, but the idea of destroying weed seed viability has yet to take off here in Canada.In this Wheat School episode, we… Read More
For parts of Western Canada, the rain keeps on pouring.Early wet conditions could be conducive to root rot problems in pulses.Fortunately, for three of the four main culprits —rhyzoctonia, fusarium and pythium, the plants will generally grow through the vulnerable early seedling stage if a seed treatment has been applied, notes Robyne Bowness-Davidson, pulse research scientist… Read More
2016 was likely the worst year on record for fusarium head blight (FHB) infection in Western Canada, as the disease has spread west and north since becoming a problem in southern Manitoba in the early 1990s.According to the Canada Grain Commission’s harvest sample survey, almost a quarter of cereal samples in Alberta tested positive for the… Read More
What a difference a year makes.In 2016, Ontario’s cold and dry spring conditions produced plenty of available nitrogen for the emerging corn crop. But when you fast-forward to 2017, those cold soils are now waterlogged and the wet conditions mean there’s very little nitrogen available to the crop.The wet soil conditions have a huge impact… Read More
Pulse crops tend to not be as competitive as other crops, such as cereals, which is why we refer to it as the critical weed free period early in the growing season. By definition, these are growth stages in the crop that must be kept weed free to prevent yield loss. In this Pulse School episode,… Read More
Are you looking to step up your fusarium control measures this spring?In this episode of RealAgriculture Wheat School, resident agronomist Peter Johnson reviews the basics of managing fusarium in Ontario’s wheat crop and also offers some tips on how growers can elevate their control efforts.For Johnson, effective fusarium control starts with the basics: timing fungicide… Read More
As peas and fababeans emerge, at least one potentially devastating pest already has made an appearance — the pea leaf weevil.In this Pulse School episode, we talk about how to deal with the weevils if you are seeing them now, economic thresholds for control, and how to avoid them in the future.Pulse research scientist Robyn… Read More
It pays to steer clear of those corn rows when planting soybeans.In this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, Syngenta agronomist Eric Richter explains that planting directly on, or too close to, last year’s corn row produces seed mortality rates between 50% to 80%.He notes that it really doesn’t matter whether growers are pulling a drill,… Read More