Peter Johnson was practically giddy as he walked through wheat fields on a beautiful November day near Woodstock, Ontario. “We’ve got big acreage of wheat and big yield potential. How could Wheat Pete be any happier,” pronounced Real Agriculture’s resident agronomist as he digested the fact that Ontario farmers have planted almost 1 million acres… Read More
Category: Seeding WSE
RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson is all smiles these days as the warm fall continues to give farmers an opportunity to plant winter wheat into optimum growing conditions. But with bean and soybean harvest progressing rapidly, Johnson says farmers have to be mindful of seeding rates to ensure they’re not creating headaches down the road. “If… Read More
It’s been a tough few years for winter wheat in Ontario, not necessarily because of the summer season, but because of the late and wet falls farmers have struggled with for the last two seasons. The fallout from a rough harvest is two-fold when it comes to winter wheat — the crop gets put in… Read More
We’re staring down the Thanksgiving weekend and harvested soybean fields are few and far between. All these late soybeans are holding up wheat acres — if you want to get wheat in, does it pay to get creative? In this episode of the Wheat School, Peter Johnson, cereal specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,… Read More
Do you put down starter fertilizer with your winter wheat? If not, Peter Johnson, cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, wants to know what you’re waiting for. “We’ve done a whole bunch more analysis of the (trial) data…and if you have a low soil test and don’t apply phosphorus… Read More
It’s late September and Peter Johnson, cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, can’t understand why a harvested pea field is bare. “This (pea field) is the ultimate place to plant wheat…this should have been planted two weeks ago!” Johnson adds that research proves planting winter wheat early results in… Read More
In this Wheat School episode, Phil Needham, of Needham Ag Technologies, shows how farmers can use a heavy duty rubber mat and some math calculations to calibrate a box drill. This procedure is really good for double disk drills because they do an excellent job of confining the seeds as they are delivered between two… Read More
Growing Degree Days (GDD) are an indicator of expected crop development based on weather conditions. GDDs are calculated by taking the mean temperature over a day and subtracting a base temperature. For most cereal grains, the base temperature is considered 5 degrees C, as they require around 1200 GDD to reach maturity. GDD = (Tmax + Tmin)… Read More
If you’ve already completed your seed test, it’s likely you have an idea of the level of disease present in your wheat seed. With that, and knowledge of pests from previous years, it’s time to make a decision about seed treatment. “Treating wheat seed is an importance insurance step,” says Mitchell Japp of the Saskatchewan… Read More
For many farmers, seeing corn production top 200 or 250 bushels an acre simply leaves them wondering, “Why can’t wheat get over 100, 150 bushels an acre?” Winter wheat can, and certainly spring wheat does now and again, but not consistently enough to pull the averages up even into the high 90s for many farms…. Read More
The seed drill does its most precise job if running through uniform residue and soil. While there’s little you can do about soil variability, residue management is well within your power. As Peter Johnson says in this video, start your winter wheat planting pass from the combine by spreading residue uniformly. (Click here to see… Read More
Side band? Top dress? Add micros or not? When it comes to wheat production many farmers are looking to closely match crop needs with fertilizer applications, but exactly how to meet those needs brings up a host of questions. Never fear, as Peter Johnson, cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, is… Read More
Phil Needham’s main message for anyone aiming for maximum wheat yields is always to pay most attention to the actual seeding pass. The potential of any crop is established at seeding and emergence, and achieving maximum potential requires quality seed, high seeding rates and the all-important precise seed placement. Several types of drills will do… Read More
The first rule of planting winter wheat is to start early. If you didn’t (and, with a late soybean harvest, that’s reasonable to expect), the next rule of planting winter wheat is to start now. That’s because the earlier in the ideal seeding window winter wheat gets in the ground, the more likely that crop… Read More
When considering tank mixes, whether in-crop or pre-seed, most farmers spend most of their time ensuring the products will control what they’re targeting and if there are any re-cropping restrictions. Rightly so, as these are the two most important factors, however how much thought do you give to the water volume and nozzle selection when… Read More