May 17, 2012

Canola School: Evaluating Your Frost Damage

canola Frost-living-growing-point_opt

When temperatures drop below zero degrees in the spring, canola growers cringe at the possibility of a canola stand wipe out.  This spring has created some real opportunity for stomachs to turn as some canola stands have faced temperatures as low as minus eight Celsius. SEE MORE CANOLA SCHOOL EPISODES Troy Prosofsky, Canola Council of Canada does [...]

Wheat School – Is it Time to Prioritize a Fungicide Over Herbicide Application on Wheat?

realagriculture.coms wheat school.001

With all of the cold weather in April keeping a large portion of winter wheat producers out of the field for that initial herbicide/fungicide pass, it’s natural to start wondering if you missed the boat on some yield potential. As worrisome as that may be to the roughly 50% of Ontario farmers that weren’t able [...]

Canola School – Should Farmers Be Scouting for Diamondback Moth Now?

realagricultures canolaschool.001

The diamondback moth population has arrived earlier and in greater numbers than in the past years. What does this early flight mean for producers? For starters it means that producers have to be out in their fields earlier, scouting for the pest, but it also means that producers have to adapt how they scout. An [...]

Canola School – Identifying Seedling Blight Pathogens in Your Canola Stand

realagricultures canolaschool.001

Any type of disease that affects the seedling stage of canola has to be taken seriously. Seedling blight can be devastating to your canola crop before or after germination. Knowing what you’re looking for and how to deal with it can put you in a position to assess your risk and take action that can [...]

Corn School – Evaluating Frost Damage On Early Planted Corn

Realag Corn School logo.001

How early is too early to plant corn? The simple answer is that there is no simple answer, at least one that doesn’t involve a healthy dose of hindsight. Depending on a number of factors outside everyone’s control, you can have a banner year planting early or a total bust. It also depends on if [...]

Wheat School – Ontario Winter Wheat Crop In Better Shape Than Expected

realagriculture.coms wheat school.001

Life is an amazingly resilient thing. With all the time, effort and money we put into protecting our crops we sometimes forget how well they can adapt and recover from things we wouldn’t expect them to. Take the winter wheat crop for example. The fact of the matter is that it should have been extremely [...]

Canola School – The Relationship of Chem Fallow and Glyphosate Resistance

eric johnson

The issue of herbicide resistance is something producers will have to continue to be vigilant about. Careful consideration needs to go into the “when” “how” and “what” to use of your individual weed control strategy. That strategy in turn needs to be balanced with a good sense of corporate responsibility about producer issues like herbicide [...]

Pulse School – Are Pea Leaf Weevil Numbers on the Rise?

Photo courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

This years mild winter has brought a number of concerns to producers minds in the area of pests. The general thoughts and feelings being that the mild weather would either help pests to over winter more easily leading to increased numbers or that the conditions would lead to pests being out and about much earlier [...]

Canola School – What Kind of Threat Will Sclerotinia Be This Year?

courtesy of hdc.org

Canola acres across the west have grown continuously over the years. The profitability of canola on the farm has not only expanded acres but also caused producers to tighten rotations. With those increased acres and short rotations the threat of disease becomes magnified. Sclerotinia is one of those diseases that, once established, can have devastating [...]

Soybean School – Attack Lambs Quarters Early

Lambsquarters

Early weed control in any crop is important. This especially true when it comes to difficult weeds like lambs quarters. A difficult weed like that often calls for an aggressive strategy.   An extra level of care and attention is required when formulating a strategy with non-gmo soybeans. It involves a good look into your [...]