Late seeding leaving a tighter window for pulse crops

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How late am I still comfortable with putting this seed in the ground?

With wet conditions holding things up, the optimal timeframe for seeding pulse crops, especially peas and fababeans, is getting tighter in parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta, leaving some growers asking themselves the above question.

Peas, from a strictly maturity perspective, are quite flexible, and can be seeded later, but that raises the risk of reduced yields from flowering during the hottest part of summer, explains Dale Risula with Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture.

Lentils should also be sown early, but they tolerate later seeding than most pulses, he says. In southern areas, sowing larger seeded varieties until May 25th and smaller seeded lentils until June 10th is acceptable, notes Risula.

As of May 1, only one percent of all Saskatchewan crops had been seeded, versus the five-year-average of six percent, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture.

Risula joined RealAg Radio on Monday to discuss delayed seeding dates for peas, lentils, fababeans, and the growing number of soybean acres in Saskatchewan:

Find more pulse crop agronomic and marketing insight in the Pulse School.

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