If you’re noticing a little fuzzy trouble with your corn crop this year — you’re not alone. With rainfall after rainfall at pollination (but not before!), the weather created perfect conditions for gibberella infection and spread. If you’ve scouted your corn crop and have found pink mould growth at the tip of the cob, chances are… Read more »
Category: Crop Schools
Soybean School: A fall plan for tough-to-kill weeds
Pre-harvest is actually a great time to get a handle on tough-to-kill weeds in the soybean crop or ahead of next year’s crop. But fall weed control takes a careful mix of planning, timing, and proper product selection or tank-mixing. For those of you with weed escapes or poor control as a hangover from this… Read more »
Pulse School: Dry bean production under irrigation
Dry beans are not too common on the western plains but they do have a nice fit in certain areas. One of those areas is the Riverhurst irrigation district along Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan. That’s where RealAgriculture field editor, Dale Leftwich, caught up with Riverhurst area farmer, Jeff Ewen for this episode of Pulse School…. Read more »
Resistance Management School: It’s all about diversity
Herbicide resistance is nothing new to Ontario farmers. It all started in 1973 when triazine-resistant lamb’s-quarters were found on a farm near Ripley, Ontario. Group 2 herbicide-resistant weeds were first documented in 1996. Fast forward to 2018, and we find that the province is now home to a host of glyphosate-resistant weeds including Canada fleabane, giant… Read more »
Wheat School: Smart(phone) help for cereal aphid scouting
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) has, until now, never developed an app. Until now, that is, with the launch of a new app called CAM. The Cereal Aphid Manager (CAM) is the first app ever developed by AAFC. Dale Leftwich, RealAgriculture’s Saskatchewan field editor, met with Tyler Wist, field crop entomology research scientist with AAFC,… Read more »
Pulse School: Harvest timing tips for a successful faba bean harvest
Faba beans seem to grow forever. They don’t, but their days to maturity are about five days longer than most varieties of wheat, so it feels like forever when you are trying to get harvest started. This is why it’s important to know what to look for, and then what to do, when it comes… Read more »
Corn School: Will wet weather bring late-season disease?
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plant pathologist Albert Tenuta is gearing up for his annual pre-harvest corn disease survey, and he’s optimistic leaf disease will not have a significant impact on the 2018 corn crop. Some growers have raised concerns that a rainy late July and August could lead to a flood… Read more »
Soybean School: Tips to keep soybeans free from volunteer canola
When glyphosate-tolerant soybeans made their appearance on the Prairies people were very excited about the crop and the potential for good weed control. It turned out, though, that there was one fly in the ointment, and that was volunteer glyphosate-tolerant canola. Although early attempts at soybeans sometimes looked more like canola fields, there are some… Read more »
Canola School: Blackleg — what’s new with an old foe?
Because blackleg has been around for a long time, it often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. So we’re shining the spotlight back on this old foe in this episode of Canola School, with Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist Warren Ward and RealAgriculture Saskatchewan field editor Dale Leftwich. They cover the continued importance of… Read more »
Canola School: What a combine loss monitor can (and can’t) tell you
Combine loss monitors are useful for understanding whether the amount of grain being thrown out the back of a combine is increasing or decreasing, but they’re not a great tool for quantifying those losses, according to research conducted by PAMI (Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute). The recent project focused on understanding the accuracy of combine loss… Read more »
Wheat School: How do we fund wheat research?
Over the last decade, the average yield increase for corn tips the scale at five bushels per acre, per year. During the same period wheat yield gains have averaged a meagre one bushel per acre, per year. What is the future of wheat if it can’t match the yield gains of crops like corn and… Read more »
Corn School: Will double-cob corn deliver bonus yield?
If you’re seeing double in your corn crop this year, you’re not seeing things. Double-cob stalks are showing up in many fields this season and farmers want to know — will these bonus cobs amount to anything, and why are they even there? Those are two questions Steph Kowalski, agronomy lead for the Agromart Group,… Read more »
Soybean School: Feeding for Yield
How do you turn a 55-bushel soybean crop into a 65-bushel crop? Timely planting? Better weather? Choosing the right variety? A little luck and better management will always put more bushels in the bin, but if growers want to push yields to the next level, they need to better serve the crop’s nutrient needs, says… Read more »
Early plant nutrition management: It’s not “just” vegetative growth
Mike Dolinski has seen a lot of things over the years as an entomologist and senior Agri-Trend coach. Opinions that come and go, scientific consensus that changes, and sometimes catchphrases that catch on, even if they are misleading. At the recent Sure Growth Technologies field day near Marchwell, Sask., Dolinski drew a bead on the… Read more »
Soybean School: Trade the hula hoop for boots and a measuring tape
What’s the gap between your soybean seeding rate and final stand count? It’s a key management consideration if growers want to get a handle on what’s happening in their fields and increase yields, says Syngenta agronomic sales rep Marijke Van Andel. When growers discover there’s a 20 percent gap between seeds planted and the final… Read more »