Wheat Pete’s Word, April 26: Double Crop Thinking, Fleabane Management, and Manganese Needs

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It’s the last week of April and not only is there crop in the ground in areas of southern Ontario, but there’s even a few corn and soy plants poking above ground!

Don’t feel bad, though, if that’s not where you’re at — there’s plenty of field prep and planning still happening across not just Ontario, but also Western Canada.

In edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, your host Peter Johnson tackles spring cereal questions, manganese deficiency corrections, how splitting N apps makes you smarter, and why fleabane is a) not a one-year control plan, and, b) can’t be allowed to go to seed.

Summary continues 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

  • Will spring cereal acres be down in Ontario? Survey says: very possibly.
  • From Saskatchewan: not a great forecast, do I wait on the spring cereals? Answer: No, they can handle the cool temps and earlier equals more yield.
  • Glyphosate resistant fleabane needs to be dealt with it outside of the soybean crop! (Besides, it’s expensive to control). At low levels, do you bother? Well, even five plants in 100 acres could mean 500,000 seeds. Seriously. you can’t walk away from them and allow them to go to seed (resistant or otherwise) . Also, plan for control in non-soy years (more on that here!)
  • Ontario’s wheat crop is incredibly advanced and looks great. First fungicide timing is here!
  • For that early wheat, are you planning on an early harvest? Could this be the year for double crop beans? Plan now! (Or, what’s your cover crop plan?)
  • Manganese deficiency on wheat — if you have yellow knolls, you need two pounds/acre of actual manganese
  • Wheat roots plugging tile — does it happen? Yes, in a super dry year (2016), wheat will grow down into any water it can find and then the roots die and leave a mess. Wheat Pete apologizes
  • Tile run wheat — is it a compaction issue? YES. This is why Wheat Pete gets so up in arms about timing of manure. Manure should be a resource, not waste removal…treat it that way and plan for optimal application timing
  • N losses from rain? It’s only been about a week, and it’s been cool, so you might lose 1% per day. .
  • Hard red winter, or later wheat, there’s still some potential for split apps — up your pounds on first pass
  • Hybrid rye and winter wheat, do you split? Rye needs it sooner and should stand well. For small winter wheat, be more conservative, 50-60 pounds now, and the balance later. Want more? Check out “How splitting N apps makes you a smarter grower HERE.”
  • Low-lignin alfalfa – HarvXtra — run the numbers to make sure it works on your farm
  • Rye stubble: does that hinder alfalfa establishment? Plant early, get good seed to soil content, and you need good moisture

Other Episodes

Wheat Pete's Word (view all) Season 3 (2017) Episode 35
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