Wheat Pete's Word, Oct 6: Slugs! Checkered seed coats, tile run triticale, and re-seeding

Sometimes it’s not what happens this year that really gets you, it’s what happened a year or more before.

That’s at least part of the answer to one farmer’s problem discussed in this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word. From silage removal and slugs, to confusing discussions on test weights, and on to making that tough re-seeding decision.

Have a question you’d like Johnson to address or some yield results to send in? Disagree with something he’s said? Leave him a message at 1-888-746-3311, send him a tweet (@wheatpete), or email him at [email protected].

SUMMARY

• Heavy rainfall in Ontario shows you that you pay for tile whether you have it or not
• Winter wheat planting in two stages, what do you do?
• Tile run triticale? Sure, you can re-seed, but go at an angle, and keep it slow and steady
• Count those plants per foot of row to determine re-seed situation
• Dry bean supplies are tight — in Ontario and in Manitoba
• Test weight is a riddle wrapped in a mystery
• Low test weights don’t drop yields significantly
• Volume is not weight, remember (space vs mass)
• High test weights means more wagons to bring in the harvest, though
• Checkered seed coats on IP soybeans. Swelling from rain, the seed coat split. Most places are not docking for that right now, but could be a concern for seed quality next year.
• It’s all about sugar, baby
• Joe and Matthew are reporting that two fungicide passes on beans (vs one) increased yield four to six bushels per acre. Wow!
• Corn stalks collapsing in some areas
• Test weight in corn so far is just marginal
• Earliest harvested is heaviest so far
• There are some low weights coming in (concerning in some cases)
• 40 bu/ac yield loss to tar spot. See the Corn School on tar spot here
• Lost N in excess moisture in July, which is surprising
• Gibb! Get the corn out of the field
• What causes smut? A fungus, wet weather, plus an injury
• Broadcast wheat into soybeans means you can’t spray with glyphosate
• Wheat into standing beans being decimated by SLUGS
• Dry manure vs liquid on wheat? Hard to get the dry manure uniform
• Leave the red clover as long as you can! Root mass doubles in October
• But then you have to terminate it, remember (it’s a bit of a dance)

Slug feeding as mentioned in the podcast:

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