Category: Canola Seeding

Have you walked your canola fields shortly after emergence only to find several seedlings struggling and dying off or found seeds rotting in the furrow? Even treated seed can’t fully overcome the pressure of the seedling disease complex endemic to all of Western Canada’s canola growing region, especially if canola is seeded too deep or… Read More

Are you seeding your canola at 5lb/ac? Unless your seed rate was calculated based on that seed lot’s thousand kernel weight (TKW), you may be losing yield potential, as plant numbers decline with increasing seed size. Angela Brackenreed, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, suggests re-calibrating when the TKW of a seed lot… Read More

Canola seed size has climbed in recent years from a once-common 4 grams per 1,000 kernel weight to north of 7 grams per 1,000 seeds. What does that mean to you, the farmer? It means that if you’ve stuck with your typical four pounds per acre seeding rate (and there are good reasons to do… Read More

From a distance, a nitrogen deficient canola plant and a sulphur deficient plant can actually look rather similar. It’s only once you get up close and compare it to plants from other areas of the field, that you can better assess what’s hampering growth of the crop. In this episode of the Canola School, Dan… Read More

The impact of a frost on the canola crop is not likely to impact a field the same way twice. There are just too many variables at play — the temperature of the frost, the duration, the topography of the field, the growth stage of the plant, the soil moisture, trash cover and, perhaps most… Read More

Bees play an essential role as pollinators in food production, but did you know they’re also an integral part of top canola yields? While bees aren’t necessary for canola seed set, fields where bees have foraged will yield higher and benefit from a shorter flowering window. The importance of canola to bees is also significant; 80%… Read More

Oilseeds are riskier to store. That’s just a fact, and canola is no different. In fact, the higher the oil content — a plus for the canola crop — is also a liability when it comes to safe storage. In the last Canola School, Keith Gabert, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, went… Read More

Last week Kristen Phillips, Manitoba’s agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, introduced us to the Ultimate Canola Challenge set up near Portage la Prairie, Man., and offered tips on counting plant stands. The UCC, a demo of three teams all vying for top canola yields, includes three different canola varieties, seeding with two… Read More

How well did the seeding pass go? How well is the crop establishing? The only way to know is to get on out there, get down low and count canola plants. Checking on and counting newly emerged plants is a great time to evaluate depth consistency, identify any skips or over-seeding by run and a… Read More

While seeding may be running a wee bit behind average for many, the long days and warmer soil can mean crops pop up quite quickly. In Manitoba, many canola fields are pushing through in about a week, which makes now a great time to start scouting for a number of things, like flea beetle feeding… Read More