Canadian corn and soybean growers have a new tool to tackle resistant and tough-to-control weeds. Zidua SC, a new Group 15 herbicide from BASF, will be available in 2018. Deven Esqueda, BASF corn and soybeans crop manager, says the herbicide is labelled for use in herbicide-tolerant soybeans and field corn. With the active ingredient pyroxasulfone,… Read more »
Category: Spraying
Exploding Sprayer Myths: Is more air better for airblast sprayers?
In the year 2017 an indestructible human cyborg sprayer expert is sent from the future to help sprayer operators match airblast sprayer air settings to their crops. As the red smoke clears in the opening scene of the latest episode of Exploding Spray Myths, our cyborg star, OMAFRA’s Jason Deveau, meets human sprayer expert Tom… Read more »
Canola School: Pre-harvest options for your canola crop
It’s the time of year when many producers are thinking about swathing, or looking forward to desiccating and straight cutting their canola crop. Two of the more common options for dry downs on your crop are glyphosate, a slower process but great for cleaning up fields; and diquat, the active ingredient in most registered desiccants…. Read more »
Soybean School: No payback for white mould revenge spraying
White mould is showing up in soybean fields across Ontario, especially in areas that have consistently seen wet weather and moderate temperatures throughout the summer. In this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert Tenuta explains that the fungicide timing for optimal control of white mould is as flowers emerge at the R1… Read more »
Soybean School: Pre + post = successful IP weed control
What’s the best herbicide program for food-grade, non-GMO, identity preserved soybeans? It’s a common question OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough gets from growers and we have the answer on this edition of RealAgriculture Soybean School. Cowbrough says there’s no magical herbicide that can handle all the challenges food-grade soybeans face during the growing season. But… Read more »
Soybean School: Taking a closer look at soybean aphid thresholds
The combination of increased soybean acres and high soybean aphid pressure on the prairies in 2017 has sparked conversations about thresholds, beneficial insects, and how to decide when spraying is warranted. The economic threshold for soybean aphids in Canada has traditionally been 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of plants, with the population still… Read more »
Knowing your variety helps avoid ‘gnarly barley’
Cereal variety trials typically give researchers great insight into yield, disease tolerance, standability and a host of management considerations to help growers pick the right variety for their fields. In this year’s Ontario Spring Cereal Performance Trials, researchers are also getting a good look at the impact herbicide choices can have on cereals. In this… Read more »
Soybean School: One-pass vs. two-pass weed control
Should you spray your soybeans once or twice? In this episode of Real Agriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough takes a look at how one-pass and two-pass herbicide systems compare. He notes that a one-pass program can offer effective weed control if growers keep soybeans fields weed-free through the third trifoliate stage. But… Read more »
More pieces needed to solve dicamba drift puzzle
As the dicamba drift situation unfolds in soybean growing areas of North America, with millions of acres affected, there are some serious questions that will need to be answered in the coming months. How extensive was the damage? What were the factors that led to dicamba herbicide ending up in places where it wasn’t supposed… Read more »
Soybean School: Painted lady caterpillar dines on thistle and soybeans
The painted lady caterpillar, also known as the thistle caterpillar, is typically something pulse growers in Western Canada have seen as a beneficial insect. This is because it feeds on Canada thistle. However, as seen in 2017, the painted lady caterpillar also likes to chew on soybeans, causing leaf damage and potential yield losses. In… Read more »
Soybean School: Getting fungicide timing right
A stretch of sunny, dry weather in Ontario has soybeans on the comeback trail. That also means that soybean fungicide timing is sneaking up on many growers as the crop picks up steam in mid July. In this edition of RealAgriculture Soybean School, BASF agronomist Ken Currah takes a closer look at the soybean fungicide… Read more »
Corn School: Managing western bean cutworm
It’s lining up to be a big corn pest year and the insect to watch for in the weeks ahead is western bean cutworm (WBC). In this edition of RealAgriculture Corn School, OMAFRA entomologist Tracey Baute explains that late planting across Ontario has left the young corn crop more susceptible to an increased number of… Read more »
Pulse School: Delivering fungicide to the part of the plant that needs it
When it comes to fungicide applications, pulses can be some of the more difficult crops to work with. Dense canopies and susceptibility to many different diseases makes disease management more complicated. In this Pulse School episode, we talk to Tom Wolf of Agrimetrix and Sprayers101.com about how to get fungicide to the part of the… Read more »
Bayer alerting Proline customers on how to prevent plugging issue
With fungicide season in full swing in many areas, Bayer is alerting customers about how to prevent a potential plugging issue with its Proline fungicide. The company says some customers have observed plugging with Proline over the last few days. “Following Bayer’s investigation, it appears that the issues are associated with the use of 80… Read more »
No easy solution for dicamba drift problem
Despite the creation of new dicamba formulations that are much less volatile and an unprecedented education campaign on how to reduce spray drift, reports of dicamba drift injury are piling up in the U.S. The complaints coincide with the release of Monsanto’s Xtend soybeans, which contain the dicamba tolerance trait that many farmers have been… Read more »