Wheat Pete's Word, Feb 15: Wheat as a Corn Crop, Crazy Strips, Peduncles, and Buckwheat Cautions

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After a week away, Peter Johnson is back for this edition of Wheat Pete’s Word.

Maybe it’s the now-on-sale chocolate talking, but this week’s edition is just a little wild, tackling everything from crazy strips, to peduncles, to robot sprayers, to shedding buckwheat, and much more.

Learn why you’ve just got to stop seeding wheat in “bushels per acre,” how to determine the best soy row spacing for light interception based on your growing season, and how to adjust for soybean maturity ratings if the planting season drags out. Listen below!

Don’t forget to send Peter your questions and comments! Leave a message at 1-888-746-3311, send him a tweet (@wheatpete), or email him at [email protected].

Summary

Corn & Soy: Do you remember the days of crazy strips — alternating rows, or groups of rows, of corn and soy? With the advent of Roundup Ready corn and beans, it’s easier and does increase corn yield, however, Johnson explains that there are two big drawbacks: namely, you can’t really follow it with wheat, and your soybean yields will suffer.

Top Tech: A listener asks, Why don’t new technologies get adopted faster? Spot spraying weeds, spraying around desired plants — the technology exists, why don’t we use it more?

New crops & intercrops: Is Pete unfairly making new crop options less appealing? In this episode he talks buckwheat blunders (he knows first hand), but also his reasoning for being cautious. Also, some listeners have some great ideas about intercropping peas into 30″ corn for late-release nitrogen. Will it work? Johnson loves the ingenuity, but he can try everything. If you do try it, leave check strips and make sure you send him the data!

Wheat as Corn: Before Johnson can tackle a question on decreasing spring wheat lodging (which he does), first we have to discuss the very western Canadian habit of seeding wheat using “bushels per acre” measurements. STOP THE MADNESS (Is it 10,000 seeds/pound, or what?) Think in seeds per acre, and treat your wheat like a corn crop.

Soybean Maturity: When do you start to choose lower maturity rated beans? Johnson tackles that, and also references the images below to help you make that decision.  (Click on the images to enlarge)

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Wheat Pete's Word (view all)Season 3 (2017) Episode 45
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