The questions about wheat harvest are starting to roll in. How do I time a pre-harvest application on my wheat crop? The answer for that question is easy: it’s all about the peduncle! (Check below for a few videos on timing a pre-harvest application correctly). Really, though, the bigger question right now for Ontario farmers… Read More
For this special Canada Day edition of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson has got answers to your timely agronomic questions. The good news is there are no alerts this week, but that doesn’t mean you can let the throttle off scouting — there are insect pests creeping in and populations can grow very quickly!… Read More
Fungicide timing can creep up really fast in soybeans and staging is at about the R2 stage or when there are flowers on the upper two nodes of the plant. In this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, Bernard Tobin talks with agronomist Ken Currah from BASF Canada about correct fungicide timing in soybeans and some… Read More
Crop researchers and agronomists are encouraging Ontario farmers to continue to follow established stewardship recommendations when using dicamba herbicides. Last week, a U.S. court decision to cancel the registration of in-crop use of dicamba herbicides left regulators, product manufacturers, herbicide applicators and farmers scrambling to understand the ramifications of the ruling and the implications for… Read More
In gale force winds, it’s pretty easy to make the call to park the sprayer; but on days that are a little breezy, and if time is tight, there are things you can do to manage drift risk and do a better job of spraying in less than ideal conditions. Of course, time is a… Read More
Fungicide formulation, timing and application. Get all those right and chances are you’ll have effective suppression of fusarium head blight (FHB) in your winter wheat crop. Syngenta Canada formulations and applications manager Doug Baumann notes that these three components of control all have to work together for growers to achieve optimum FHB control. On this… Read More
As we enter into post-emergent herbicide timing in parts of the Prairies, crop staging becomes key in deciding when to spray or not to spray. Particularly with pulse crop staging, it can be confusing to compare what’s on an in-crop product label with staging guides from Alberta Pulse Growers, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, or the Manitoba… Read More
Should you go ground or air? That’s the question many growers struggle with as they try to determine the best method of applying disease-fighting fungicide to their growing corn crops. On this episode of RealAgriculture Corn School we tackle that question with two of North America’s leading plant pathologists — University of Kentucky’s Kiersten Wise… Read More
What effect will extreme cold temperatures have on early-season weed control? That’s a question University of Guelph, Ridgetown College weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema has been hearing a lot lately. With farm fields across Ontario being punished by extreme cold temperatures that have dropped to nighttime lows of minus 5 degrees C, many growers are… Read More
The fight against herbicide resistant weeds often feels like a losing battle. The list of resistant weed species grows every year, while the number of new and simple herbicide options for controlling weeds is a long way from keeping up. But there are reasons to be optimistic, especially when you look at testing and technology… Read More
This week’s RealAgriculture LIVE segment features Tom Wolf of Agrimetrix, Sprayers 101, and Spray Myths fame, answering all the tough questions ahead of the growing season. From nozzle selection, water volume in dry conditions, herbicide resistance, and if he has a favourite nozzle, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney and Tom cover a lot of ground… Read More
It’s mid-April and the weeds are growing in eastern Canada. Overall, good weather has many fields one month ahead of schedule, and in some cases, two months ahead of backward 2019 spring conditions, notes BASF agronomist Rob Miller. That means it’s time for growers to tackle perennial weeds and winter annuals like Canada fleabane before… Read More
The Ontario Pesticide Education Program has cancelled all classroom Grower Pesticide Safety Courses and Pesticide Vendor Certification Courses, as a preventative measure to minimize the spread of COVID-19 For the over 1,400 people whose pesticide safety certification will expire this spring, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks has announced an extension. For… Read More
First there were strobilurins, then came triazoles, and now we have succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors or SDHIs. That can be a bit of tongue twister, but it also adds up to three classes of fungicides and multiple modes of action that more growers are stacking up to bring stronger disease protection to their cornfields. That’s the… Read More
There’s no denying that the COVID-19 outbreak is having a huge impact on our daily lives. But even among the negativity and scary unknowns, there is some good — like maple trees pushing out buds and soil warming up and drying out in southern Ontario. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson has… Read More