How could precision planting technology impact Ontario winter wheat yields? Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs cereals specialist Joanna Follings and RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson are back with a final report on precision planting trials Follings conducted on her home farm at Ayr, Ont. RealAgriculture first visited the site in September 202o when… Read More
Category: Wheat School
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How late can you plant winter wheat and still get an amazing plant stand? As agronomist Peter Johnson discovers on this episode of RealAgriculture’s Wheat School, even wheat planted in mid-November can deliver a top crop. Earlier this summer he visited with C&M Seeds research agronomist Mike Holzworth at the company’s variety testing site. Johnson… Read More
Believe it or not, there hasn’t been an updated survey on wireworm species across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba since 1943. That all changes now that a research team has taken on the task. Ted Labun, seedcare technical lead for Western Canada at Syngenta Canada, explains in this Wheat School episode why the survey needed to be… Read More
What’s the number one way to get great wheat yields in the east? Plant early! In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Wheat School, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson shares his tips for planting, and his insights on phosphorus, based on soil type and base fertility. “If you can plant wheat in September in Ontario, that’s almost always… Read More
Wheat stem sawfly is thought to be native to parts of the southern Prairie provinces, and forecasting maps show that the pest is certainly present this year. “This is the time of the year where we’re starting to see some of those wheat stems topple over from wheat stem sawfly,” says Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research… Read More
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are an excellent tool for controlling the height of a wheat crop, and they also impact stem strength, especially for a crop under high management. “Lodging is caused by high nitrogen rates, or excessive nitrogen, and also high seeding rates,” says Mike Holzworth, research agronomist with C&M Seeds. In this Wheat… Read More
How drought can impact seed quality is definitely a question on a lot of farmers’ minds this year. Rachael Melenka, client success manager at 20/20 Seed Labs, has all the information to consider for testing harvested grains in this Wheat School episode. There is a potential issue with seed grown having increased dormancy this year… Read More
Success in certain crop systems can sometimes translate to other cropping systems; for example, using a planter in corn adds precision and accuracy to maximize yields and improve agronomic management. In recent years, not a lot of progress has been made in the area of irrigated durum wheat yields, and Farming Smarter is looking at… 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
Grain growers are reporting that bluegrass is becoming a growing weedy issue in many Ontario field crops. There are three types of weedy bluegrass species that are being found: annual bluegrass, rough-stalk bluegrass, and Canada bluegrass. As Mike Cowbrough, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist explains in this Wheat School episode,… Read More
Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization is an important step in seeding a wheat crop and getting it off to the right start. However, over time fertilizer placed at the same depth can cause soil acidification. Initially set up in 1967, with various rotations and fertility treatments, long-term research plots were the basis for interesting research results… Read More
Recent weather events in parts of Ontario have really flattened some wheat crops. There’s an awesome crop out there, but harvesting it will now be much more difficult. In this episode of the Wheat School, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson talks about combine set-ups, the possibility of applying a pre-harvest burndown, and is later joined by… Read More
Should growers sell their wheat straw after 2021 harvest? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson has been asked often in recent weeks. With fertilizer prices up 125 per cent and straw prices hovering around three cents per pound, many growers say they would rather blow the straw back on the field, take the nutrient credit… 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