The time is coming when farmers will check an in-field diagnostic tool for presence of a disease or insect and know it’s time to apply a crop protection product. We’re not exactly there yet, but sensor technology and apps are advancing to the point where it’s possible to get diagnostics on a field-by-field basis. One… Read More
Category: Canola
Work for the growing season doesn’t end with seeding. Soon after, it’s important to be out doing early season scouting in order to mitigate potential issues. There are two main things that a producer is looking for when early season scouting: one is to measure the success of the seeding operation, including how many plants… Read More
For those following the grain markets, how do you tease out seasonal lows or ticks lower versus bigger issues dragging on prices? It’s not an easy distinction to make, says Chuck Penner, founder of Leftfield Commodity Research. This time of year, as the calendar flips to summer and the crop potential gets measured week by… Read More
Soil testing is a best management practice when planning fertilizer rates, but a soil test is perhaps most valuable following extreme situations — very wet or drought conditions. As Mike Palmier of Max Ag Consulting explains in this Canola School episode below, three years of dry or drought conditions for his area of west-central Saskatchewan… Read More
Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase “trust, but verify” in the context of the Cold War, but similar logic applies in the active battle against increasingly-prevalent glyphosate-resistant kochia. It’s a safe assumption to trust that kochia is glyphosate-resistant in much of Western Canada, but there’s still value in verifying, says Ian Epp, agronomy specialist… Read More
Sclerotinia is one of the most challenging diseases for growers to manage in canola, and in soybeans, where it appears in the form of white mould. In both crops, field history and moisture are two key drivers of the disease. Hit play and watch/listen to this episode on sclerotinia and white mould featuring Chris Manchur… Read More
Winter canola fields are popping up all over Ontario. Across the province, acreage for the entire oilseed crop typically checks in around 40,000 acres, with about one third of the crop being planted in the fall, the rest being spring canola. Over the past five years, however, winter canola has been gaining momentum in the… Read More
The premise behind why a good healthy plant stand is important when battling flea beetles in canola is simple: the fewer beetles per plant, the less likely they’re going to damage more than 25 per cent of the total leaf area. In dry conditions, too much seed-placed fertilizer can hurt that plant stand and help… Read More
Clubroot has expanded its reach across the Prairies each year since it was first confirmed in a canola field in Alberta in 2003. Since then, the soil-borne disease has spread across the province and positive cases have popped up across parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. For Manitoba, what could have been a disaster of epic… Read More
Once the snow is gone, it’s time to assess how the fall-seeded crops have fared. For much of Ontario, they not only did well, they’re already growing like weeds! For some areas of the province, the winter wheat crop is as much as five days ahead of the 10-year average. That’s where we start with… Read More