Resistance to glyphosate has not officially been confirmed in Canada fleabane populations in Western Canada, but the weed, sometimes called horseweed or marestail, should be on the radar when it comes to herbicide resistance on the Prairies, according to Manitoba Agriculture’s weed specialist. Canada fleabane that’s resistant to glyphosate and other chemistries is already established… Read More
Category: Crop Management WSW
Ground beetles are some of the most abundant natural enemies for crop insect pests, but their free services in the field often remain overlooked and under-appreciated, says an entomology professor from the University of Manitoba. “They’re far more abundant than most people realize, but many of our species are really restricted to the ground and… Read More
True armyworms hungry for grassy plants, including wheat, have arrived in large numbers in parts of the Prairies this summer. The pest, which migrates north as a light brown moth, arrived in Manitoba during the last week of May, explains John Gavloski, entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this armyworm-focused Wheat School episode filmed at the… Read More
What’s old is new again, or at least as relevant as ever when it comes to managing herbicide resistant weeds. Research led by Charles Geddes, weed scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lethbridge, shows cultural practices — tighter row spacing, higher seeding rates, and longer crop rotations — can be just as effective as… Read More
Winter is a great time to recalibrate your approach to managing wheat diseases and applying fungicides. That’s the message Penn State University plant pathologist Alyssa Collins shared with agronomists attending the Ontario Certified Crop Advisors annual meeting earlier this month. It’s a dormant period for humans and also for fungi and plants, says Collins. “So… Read More
What happens when you precision plant wheat? There’s a growing body of evidence indicating that better seed singulation, metering and depth control has the potential to improve uniformity of emergence, growth and crop canopy. That precise approach can also add up to higher yield potential and more grain in the bin. But many growers have… Read More
Work continues on training computer algorithms to unlock the potential of green-on-green spot spraying systems to identify and target the weeds found on Canadian farm fields. The goal of green-on-green spraying systems is to detect and apply herbicide to weeds that are growing within a green crop. Where green-on-brown spot spraying systems used for burnoff… Read More
From a crop nutrition perspective, nitrogen losses as N2O or nitrous oxide pale in comparison to what’s lost in N2 form, but N2O has a much greater impact on the total greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer. As part of this Wheat School episode filmed at Manitoba Crop Diagnostic School, Manitoba Agriculture’s John Heard shares a… Read More
Research shows plant growth regulators (PGRs) are most effective — and least likely to cause damage — when they’re applied with precise timing, and that stage can pass quickly as a cereal crop develops. There are three questions to answer before applying a PGR, explains Anne Kirk, cereal specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, in this video… Read More
Spraying a fungicide requires considering the stage of plant a bit differently than when spraying a herbicide. At herbicide timing, the canopy of the crop is a lot shorter and less dense. “For fungicides, we’re now talking about a taller canopy, a canopy that’s probably closed in, and a canopy that’s a little bit diverse… Read More
Spray drift happens, but every spray operators goal should be to create as little drift as possible. So how can we combat it? Tom Wolf, founder of AgriMetrix and co-founder of Sprayers 101, joins Kara Oosterhuis for this Wheat School episode for a technical breakdown of spray drift, and tips for how to prevent it…. Read More
It’s been a challenging start for wheat in much of Western Canada this spring due to hot and dry conditions, which might lead growers and agronomists to ask “what if?” this cool season crop had been planted earlier. Wheat’s yield potential is determined early on, at the three to six leaf stage, explains Brunel Sabourin… Read More
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are used to control or modify plant growth processes. In the case of wheat and barley, PGRs are used to influence the hormones responsible for cell elongation, which results in a crop with thicker, shorter stems. “Right now there are two plant growth regulators available for wheat in Western Canada,” says… Read More
Scouting for wireworms starts with looking for bare or thinned patches — after the crop has emerged. Areas where maybe the seedling didn’t come up at all, or if they did, they’ve yellowed at the centre of the plant “If you see that, there could be a couple different reasons why your crop has thinned… Read More
Wheat prices are amazing and everyone wants big wheat yields this year; so how do you achieve them? By paying close attention to your nitrogen applications, of course. Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson is hopping mad in this Wheat School episode — mad at himself that is. In the video, he’s standing in a wheat field… Read More