Cold nighttime temperatures in recent weeks across Ontario are causing soybean plants to shut down. That’s one of the reasons why many growers are seeing oddly coloured leaves throughout their soybean crops. In this Real Agriculture Soybean School episode, Pride Seeds agronomist Dan Foster explains that in many instances the bronze and reddish leaves growers… Read more »
Category: Crop Schools
Corn School: Will your corn reach maturity?
Is the corn going to make it? Will it mature before Ontario farmers are greeted by the first killing frost? Those were the two big questions that dominated conversations at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show this week in Woodstock, Ontario. To get a good understanding of the challenges the provincial corn crop is facing, RealAgriculture sent… Read more »
Corn School: Evaluating late-season northern corn leaf blight control
With late planting and slow maturity, much of Ontario’s corn crop may be in for a challenge as leaf diseases arrive in fields across the province. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School, we catch up with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Rood and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) field pathologist Albert Tenuta in his leaf disease nursery… Read more »
Canola School: Scout for blackleg at harvest
The canola pods are almost done filling, if not at full maturity, in many areas of the prairies, and harvest is beginning. We often think of scouting as something we have to do earlier in the season when there are still control options, but don’t always remember the importance of knowing what’s going on in… Read more »
Canola School: Pre-harvest options for your canola crop
It’s the time of year when many producers are thinking about swathing, or looking forward to desiccating and straight cutting their canola crop. Two of the more common options for dry downs on your crop are glyphosate, a slower process but great for cleaning up fields; and diquat, the active ingredient in most registered desiccants…. Read more »
Soybean School: No payback for white mould revenge spraying
White mould is showing up in soybean fields across Ontario, especially in areas that have consistently seen wet weather and moderate temperatures throughout the summer. In this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert Tenuta explains that the fungicide timing for optimal control of white mould is as flowers emerge at the R1… Read more »
Corn School: Could 2017 be another vomitoxin year?
A late-maturing crop, difficult environmental conditions, significant insect pressure and potential for late-season leaf disease…although too early to tell – this growing list of factors could lead to another year of high vomitoxin levels in the Ontario corn crop. In this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School, OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert Tenuta takes a look at the… Read more »
Soybean School: Pre + post = successful IP weed control
What’s the best herbicide program for food-grade, non-GMO, identity preserved soybeans? It’s a common question OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough gets from growers and we have the answer on this edition of RealAgriculture Soybean School. Cowbrough says there’s no magical herbicide that can handle all the challenges food-grade soybeans face during the growing season. But… Read more »
Soybean School: Taking a closer look at soybean aphid thresholds
The combination of increased soybean acres and high soybean aphid pressure on the prairies in 2017 has sparked conversations about thresholds, beneficial insects, and how to decide when spraying is warranted. The economic threshold for soybean aphids in Canada has traditionally been 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of plants, with the population still… Read more »
Pulse School: Lygus bugs in fababeans
Lygus bugs are known for attacking canola, alfalfa and sunflowers (you can probably blame the lygus for that gross seed), but they can also be a significant pest in fababeans — especially after their canola food source is harvested. In general, lygus bug species like to feed on the reproductive parts of plants. “Similar to… Read more »
Wheat School: ‘Real’ Wheat Farmers — Shawn Schill
Not often do you hear of wheat outyielding corn, but that’s the case in our latest episode in the ‘Real’ Wheat Farmers series. RealAgriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson can barely contain himself when Arthur, Ontario farmer Shawn Schill of Shawridge Farms tells him that one 200-acre field yielded 154 bu/ac of wheat, beating the average corn… Read more »
Wheat School: Could winter durum reduce fusarium risk?
Winter durum wheat isn’t grown in Western Canada, but the possible benefits have breeders working on developing it. As Jamie Larsen with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge discusses in this Wheat School episode, winter durum could perform well during dry years, and face reduced fusarium head blight (FHB) risk compared with spring durum. “We are… Read more »
Soybean School: Preventing those yellow patches next year
Most of the yellow patches in soybean fields in Western Canada and the northern U.S. have disappeared as the plants have recovered, or turned necrotic and died, but one of the big questions heading into harvest is: what toll did widespread issues with iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) earlier in the season take on yields? The… Read more »
Soybean School: One-pass vs. two-pass weed control
Should you spray your soybeans once or twice? In this episode of Real Agriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough takes a look at how one-pass and two-pass herbicide systems compare. He notes that a one-pass program can offer effective weed control if growers keep soybeans fields weed-free through the third trifoliate stage. But… Read more »
Canola School: Weather aids arrival of diamondback moths
Numbers of diamondback moths have increased in Western Canada over the past couple of weeks, in part due to the dry weather and strong winds. In some areas where the canola is still in late bloom, they are causing a fair amount of damage. Héctor Cárcamo, entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says the key to… Read more »