Corn is often described as a diva. It can thrive in the right conditions, but it does not like competition. That’s especially evident when corn plants have to compete with weeds for moisture in dry conditions, as seen in Western Canada and the Northern Plains of the U.S. in 2021. “There have been many studies… Read More
Category: Spraying
Corn and soybean insects and disease are the focus of Day 3 of Ontario Diagnostic Days. The annual Ontario field crop diagnostic days held at Ridgetown, Elora, and Winchester are again virtual in 2021. On this episode, host Shaun Haney is joined by OMAFRA field crops entomologist Tracey Baute to discuss growing concern about corn rootworm… Read More
The annual Ontario field crop diagnostic days held at Ridgetown, Elora, and Winchester will again go virtual in 2021. The organizing committees of these three highly successful in-field education and learning events are again partnering with crop researchers and extension, along with support from RealAgriculture and a host of sponsors to bring you a series… 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 dry in parts of Western Canada heading into canola flowering, but has it been dry enough to hold off on spraying for sclerotinia? That’s a question many growers and agronomists in drought-affected areas have been asking themselves over the last week or two. There are really two basic factors to consider in the… Read More
Getting the right spray quality and the right water volume can be a bit tricky, and when it comes to nozzles, there are a few factors to consider when picking the right one. When it comes to nozzle size and spray pattern, there are two important questions our expert for this Canola School episode asks:… Read More
A dry bias across a large portion of the Prairies has been on everyone’s minds this growing season. In fact, the growing season ran the whole gamut on abiotic pressures that crops can face. Jimmi-Lee Jackson, market development agronomist for Bayer Crop Science in the Tisdale, Sask., area says that while cereals and pulses look… Read More
Water, and access to clean water, is likely to define the next generation of agricultural inputs. Even if the Prairies return to a more average rainfall pattern in the short term, water scarcity is becoming more of an issue in several geographies and jurisdictions. Water isn’t just required for plant growth, of course; it’s required… Read More
Proper staging is critical when applying in-crop herbicides in corn, but there are multiple ways to measure corn’s growth stages, and herbicide labels don’t always use the same method. Agronomists often use the “leaf collar” — or V-stage — method to describe growth stages, while others use plant height. However, herbicide labels often refer to… Read More
When’s the best time of day to spray herbicides? Morning, noon, or night? University of Guelph weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema says that every herbicide has a time-of-day effect but generally speaking, growers get the best weed control at 3:00 pm in the afternoon. That’s Sikkema’s conclusion based on time-of-day efficacy trials he conducted using… Read More
A spring of extremes — first cold, dry and windy, then hot, dry and windy — has resulted in weeds getting a head start in many soybean fields in the soybean-growing areas of Western Canada. While wind and cold temperatures delayed burnoff applications at the start of the season, questions about when to spray in… Read More
Will nozzle type solve the problem of getting efficacy while spraying T3 fungicides? There’s plenty of work done on the right nozzle for this job, but what are the other factors that lead to an efficacious application for controlling fusarium? In this Wheat School episode, our resident agronomist Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson is fired up… Read More
With T3 fungicide application timing approaching to control fusarium in Ontario’s wheat crop, many growers are wondering whether to spray or not to spray. With the hot, dry Ontario weather pushing into late May, there’s little or no disease in the crop and disease levels could decline further if moisture continues to be scarce. For… Read More
Dry spring planting conditions have many growers wondering how their soil-applied residual herbicides will perform, as the weather continues to heat up with little meaningful rain in sight. Research by University of Guelph weed scientist Dr. Peter Sikkema indicates pre-emergence herbicides will still deliver significant value for growers in dry spring conditions. He notes that… Read More
As we approach the first long weekend of the summer season, farmers are thinking about relaying winter wheat and barley for forage, protecting N on dry ground, and skipping a pre-emergent herbicide pass. As to whether all or some (or none) of those are good ideas, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson has the answers in this… Read More