Harvest weather has not been kind, but some great yields make up for it at least a little for many Ontario farmers. We’ve also got some good news on wheat acres, too. It can’t all be good, of course, and this fall weather has left many fields rutted and compacted. What to do about tillage?… Read more »
Category: Pests
Layering on the kochia control strategies
Kochia is known for being an aggressive, adaptive weed. This year showed some farmers just how tenacious this species is. At spray timing, at harvest, and even after, kochia is a constant issue, and it’s not going away any time soon. Jason Lindgren, with NuFarm Canada, says that lighter competition this year due to dry… Read more »
9 factors that contributed to this mess of a corn crop
By Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture agronomist Many producers can’t wait to put the 2018 corn crop behind them. Despite big yields — even record yields for some growers — mycotoxin levels in the crop has turned harvest into a nightmare. And that’s not to mention the constant downpours and totally saturated fields that will likely make… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, Nov 7: Combine mods, cereal rye, and soy storage tips
Let’s start this week’s Word on a super positive note — Peter Johnson is a grandpa for the sixth time! Host Johnson takes that wonderful piece of news as inspiration for this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word and tries to keep it upbeat and positive (meaning, yes, he talks corn, but mostly not, OK?) From winter… Read more »
Frustration builds over corn testing headaches
By Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture agronomist The DON quick test is driving everybody nuts. Farmers are getting results of 12 ppm at this elevator, but the same load tests 5 ppm at another elevator. Then, you send a load to an end user, get rejected the first time at 10 ppm, get right back in line… Read more »
Corn School: Fine tuning the combine to reduce DON levels
How can growers adjust their combines to reduce vomitoxin levels when harvesting the 2018 crop? RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson has some answers. In this episode of Real Agriculture’s Corn School, Johnson visits with custom combine operator David Killins, of Killins Custom work, at Dorchester, Ontario. Johnson acknowledges that while cleaning corn does help, it’s not… Read more »
Canola School: Identifying verticillium stripe
Verticillium stripe, also known as verticillium wilt, is a relatively new-to-Canada canola disease. First identified on a research farm in Manitoba in 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) conducted a nation-wide survey to determine the extensiveness of the pathogen in 2015, and found it to be in multiple locations. In this episode of Canola… Read more »
Three options for high DON corn
By Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture agronomist It has been one TOUGH harvest. Constant showers, have led to very wet condition, and now record levels of deoxynivalenol (DON, produced by gibberella) in the corn crop has stress running high in the countryside. Coffee shop rumours abound. The urgent questions though, are: Do I harvest this corn at… Read more »
U.S. EPA temporarily extends registration of dicamba – with added restrictions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted a temporary extension to the registration of dicamba, including product sold under the trade name XtendiMax, through 2020. The EPA has fielded numerous complaints about spray drift from the product, the majority of which stem from dicamba sprayed on herbicide-tolerant crops, initially released in 2017. The EPA… Read more »
Resistance Management School: Watch out for waterhemp
Earlier this year, Dr. Peter Sikkema, professor with the University of Guelph and his research team confirmed Group 14 resistance in waterhemp at multiple locations in Ontario. Sikkema’s research team, including graduate student Lauren Benoit, has also confirmed waterhemp with cross-resistance to Groups 2, 5, and 9, as well as 14. In this episode of the Resistance Management… Read more »
Nearly 40 Saskatchewan fields showed clubroot symptoms in 2018
Any illusions that Saskatchewan had some sort of secret immunity to clubroot should be put to rest with new findings just announced by SaskCanola. According to a press release, 37 fields in the province have been confirmed to have had clubroot symptoms. Up until this time there have been relatively few fields with clubroot identified… Read more »
Canola School: Blackleg levels flat, sclerotinia down, and a changing clubroot threat
Every once in a while a group with a real passion for something get a chance to get together and talk about what they care about. If you get to be in room with with them, you can’t help but feel the energy and, most likely, learn something. The Western Forum on Pest Management (WFPM)… Read more »
Corn School: Hideous cobs? It could be boron deficiency
Have you ever discovered small, misshapen, poorly pollinated corn ears mixed in with a field of impressive, high-yielding cobs? PRIDE Seeds agronomist Drew Thompson received a call in August from a grower telling just this story. When Thompson visited the field he noted that no nutrient deficiencies were apparent (no firing or discolouration) so out came… Read more »
Crop insurance will have to grind through this brutal Ontario corn harvest
“Brutal” is just one word being used to describe some of the corn coming off in Ontario. While yields are good, a perfect storm of disease-inducing conditions at and following pollination has left a chunk of the 2018 corn crop riddled with myctoxins, most notably vomitoxin. “There is still lots of good corn in Ontario,”… Read more »
Pulse School: A lesson in root rots, as preparation for next year
Each fall the Western Forum on Pest Management meets to review the previous growing season. Scientists, researchers, and agronomists get together to compare notes on what happened during the previous growing season. This helps everyone get a better understanding of the issues so that they can help each other help farmers. Dale Leftwich, field editor… Read more »