Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum, is a major concern for wheat growers across the Prairies. The fungus affects grain yield and produces mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol, or DON, that accumulate in grain. The presence of DON leads to a downgrade in quality when that grain enters the market. Victoria Linden, director… Read More
You’ve finished seeding, and now you’re getting curious as to how the crop’s looking and what kind of plant stand you’ve got. Getting an idea of how many plants per square foot or square meter is a really good idea, but more importantly, an early emergence evaluation helps diagnose any plant stand issues and what… Read More
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are used to control or modify plant growth processes. There are a few products on the market, and in the case of cereals, the most common PGR is used to influence the hormones responsible for cell elongation, which results in shorter, thicker stems. Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Agronomic Research Scientist, Sheri… Read More
The decision to re-seed a canola crop can be a difficult one, and the reasons to re-seed can be numerous: wind damage or sandblasting, especially in sandier soils, insect damage from cutworms or flea beetles, or overall low plant density. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Canola School, Kara Oosterhuis chats re-seeding decisions with Autumn Barnes,… Read More
Fungicide formulation, timing and application. Get all those right and chances are you’ll have effective suppression of fusarium head blight (FHB) in your winter wheat crop. Syngenta Canada formulations and applications manager Doug Baumann notes that these three components of control all have to work together for growers to achieve optimum FHB control. On this… Read More
Rolling right after planting has become a common practice on soybean fields in Western Canada over the last decade, but there are some good reasons to consider delaying the timing of rolling until after the crop is up. Rolling right behind the planter or drill improves seed-to-soil contact and is definitely less unnerving than rolling… Read More
In-crop herbicide application season can be a busy time, and there are many factors to consider to make your herbicide application efficient. Technical marketing specialist of herbicides with BASF, Andrew Reid, talks herbicide efficacy with RealAgriculture’s Kara Oosterhuis in this episode of Pulse School. Before you jump in the sprayer there are a few questions… Read More
It’s time for T3 fungicides to control fusarium head blight in Ontario’s winter wheat, but growers may also have another troublemaker in the cereal crop that they’ll need to tackle this time of year. There have been growing reports of cereal aphids in the Ontario winter wheat crop this spring, and growers need will to… Read More
Soil compaction is always going to be a hot topic following a trying harvest season. That holds true for much of the eastern Prairies and northern U.S. states this spring. Aaron Daigh, assistant professor of Soil Physics at North Dakota State University says that the 2019 growing season started off wet in the spring, which… Read More
With June arriving this week, corn is rushing ahead and growing rapidly. Now’s the time for growers to get out and scout fields to identify planting issues, determine yield potential and start fine-tuning your management plan, says Kinburn, Ont., agronomist Paul Sullivan. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, Sullivan notes that stand assessment and… Read More
Cutworms are a common pest in several crops, including canola, across the Prairies. These below-ground dwellers cause damage by clipping or severing stems of seedlings, so unlike other pest damage, cutworm feeding kills young plants. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Canola School, Kara Oosterhuis sits down with Dr. Vincent Hervet, research scientist with Agriculture and… Read More
Seeding is well under way across the Prairies and as farmers start seeding canola, flea beetles are likely the biggest pest of concern. For this Canola School, correspondent Kara Oosterhuis sits down with Dr. John Gavloski, the provincial entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development. Even if canola isn’t in the ground yet and as… Read More
Wireworms are a widespread concern across the prairies early in the growing season. Kara Oosterhuis recently caught up with John Gavloski, provincial entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development, in this Canola School episode to talk about the insect pest that can impact your canola crop. Wireworms are the larval stage of the click beetle… Read More
Harvest weed seed control is one option when it comes to managing some of our resistant weeds across the prairies. However, when it comes to wild oats, they shed their weed seeds before harvest time comes around. Breanne Tidemann, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), has published a paper on some of the… Read More
Should you go ground or air? That’s the question many growers struggle with as they try to determine the best method of applying disease-fighting fungicide to their growing corn crops. On this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School we tackle that question with two of North America’s leading plant pathologists — University of Kentucky’s Kiersten Wise… Read More