Life is an amazingly resilient thing. With all the time, effort and money we put into protecting our crops we sometimes forget how well they can adapt and recover from things we wouldn’t expect them to. Take the winter wheat crop for example. The fact of the matter is that it should have been extremely… Read More
The difference in bushels per acre of wheat from country to country is larger than you might think. On the surface that may seem fairly obvious when we see a drastic difference between climates or access to technologies, but when we look to level the playing field in these areas it begs the question: Can… Read More
How important is protecting the flag leaf in the early stages of your wheat crop? The flag leaf is critically important in determining your yield. Any damage done to that leaf will have a direct and dramatic impact on your crops potential. Disease can be one of those damaging factors. Assessing your risk for disease… Read More
As far as cover crops go, red clover is a no-brainer. That according to OMAFRA wheat specialist Peter Johnson. It’s a statement that seems to be backed up by a lot of facts. The first being its ability to provide ample amounts of nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. A good stand of red… Read More
Wet weather has really put winter wheat in a hard place for farmers in parts of Ontario. For starters, it pushed the seeding date back and secondly a large portion of it is sitting in some very wet conditions, conditions that can be very problematic for growth and development. So what does that mean for… Read More
What kind of benefit if any can we expect to see from placing fertilizer in with our seed? The question we lead off with in this episode of the Wheat School is: Starter fertilizer: Myth or Real? What follows is a solid case for the benefits of starter fertilizer from OMAFRA Cereal Expert Peter Johnson…. Read More
Is fall a good time to look at weed control in your winter wheat? Pre-plant weed control is an option that most farmers don’t exercise. The reason has a lot to do with the business of the season. Harvest is in full swing depending what you’re growing and farmers have to balance that with trying… Read More
With a great deal of soybeans being planted later than normal, harvest is pushed back as well this year. This in turn pushes winter wheat planting back. But just how late is too late when it comes to planting winter wheat in Ontario? What impact will that late planting have on yields and emergence? How… Read More
Getting your winter wheat off the field as quickly as possible is extremely important if you are looking to maintain quality. The longer that crop remains in the field exposed to the elements, the greater the chances are that germ, vigour and overall grade quality can be negatively impacted. That’s were combine efficiency comes into… Read More
Test weights on wheat are down below average in parts of Ontario. Compared to this time last year, yields by test weight alone are down by as much as 10% in areas. There are a couple of reasons behind this. The first involves under-filled kernels from plants surrounding dead zones in the field being… Read More
A big part of a successful pest control strategy depends on pests behaving in a certain way and us basing our control measures on that. When an insect pest deviates from typical behaviour, it can in some cases, negate any control strategy we implement based on that behaviour. Things like emergence patterns, feeding habits,… Read More
This episode of the Wheat School can be summarized as a bit of a fusarium clinic. Peter Johnson, Cereal Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs gives us a first hand look at the difference in resistance between older wheat varieties and some of the newer generations. Here we get confirmation… Read More
Studies are underway to help winter wheat producers to improve production in a number of areas and to help expand the amount of acres being grown by farmers across the west. The two year study by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission will look at a number of factors that… Read More
The Cereal Leaf beetle seems to be rearing its ugly head in winter and spring wheat fields near Bolton, Stayner and Seaforth, Ontario. Tracey Baute, OMAFRA Entomologist and author of Bautebugblog.com reports threshold levels of the pest in those fields, with significant feeding seen on the flagleaf. Baute recommends spraying infested winter wheat with insecticides… Read More
With the supremely wet weather that has been significantly delaying corn and soybean. Another one of the impacts of this wet weather is the need to consider fungicides for your wheat crop. Wet conditions tend to bring on disease and that can dampen your yield expectations if not handled accordingly. Phil Needham is a leading… Read More