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
Category: Weed control
After wreaking havoc in the U.S. and parts of Ontario, herbicide-resistant waterhemp has arrived on the scene on the eastern side of the Canadian Prairies. Patches of the prolific weed — a cousin to Palmer amaranth — were found in multiple fields in five municipalities in Manitoba last year. In one case, over 30 acres… Read More
When Bloomfield, Ont. farmer Tyler Lester started planting cover crops, the goal was to help keep livestock out of pea crops to address food safety concerns raised by vegetable crop customers. With a healthy deer and wild turkey population that too often ventured into the crops, Lester and his family hatched a strategy to plant… Read More
Glyphosate-resistant kochia is spreading quickly across the Prairies, but right now farmers are only seeing the “tip of the iceberg”, according to the weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture. Kochia populations showing some level of glyphosate resistance in Manitoba rose from one per cent in 2013 to 59 per cent in 2018, according to the latest… Read More
Weed surveys conducted in the Canadian Prairies since the early 2000s have tracked the incidence of herbicide resistance over time, and it’s not looking good. “In general, what we’re seeing is herbicide resistance is increasing on the Prairies,” says Charles Geddes, research scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “Currently, we’re sitting at — in Saskatchewan —… Read More
Could fungicide resistance develop on your farm? The answer to that question really depends on how you deploy fungicides in your fields, says Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist Kelly Turkington. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Resistance Management School, Turkington explains that fungicide resistance really is a numbers game. He notes that a barley or… Read More
Custom applicators and farmers looking to use drones to apply herbicides to crops in Canada are still in a holding pattern. Operator licensing and certification is now available from Transport Canada, but Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) requirements continue to ground herbicide application from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), reports Don Campbell, owner and and founder… Read More
It’s been a week of wild weather: extreme cold in the west, and warm and very wet weather in the east. Understandably, overland flooding in Ontario has many farmers asking about the impact on the wheat crop. Peter Johnson has the answer you need in this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word. Johnson shares some of the… Read More
In 2015, Willard Jack was gearing up to tackle herbicide resistant Canada fleabane on his Belzoni, Mississippi farm. Five years later, that weed is just an afterthought as Jack is fully engaged in a fight with a much tougher resistant weed “monster” — Palmer amaranth. At the SouthWest Agricultural Conference (SWAC) last week at Ridgetown,… Read More
Weed control is often focused first on out-competing the pest. Some escape, of course, so “control” shifts to decreasing the weed seed bank. There are limited ways to eliminate those weeds with mature seeds at harvest, but recent work in Australia and here in Canada is focused on destroying weeds at the combine. According to… Read More
Have you ever thumbed through your child’s textbook only to be left shaking your head? RealAgriculture founder Shaun Haney was helping his youngest son with his science homework when a small sidebar on herbicide resistance caught his eye: In my sons grade 9 text book it says that herbicide resistance is due to weeds and… Read More
Soybeans growers will have greater opportunities to plant Enlist E3 soybeans next spring as more seed companies offer the technology in their seed guides for 2020. The Enlist E3 soybean stacked trait provides tolerance to the new 2,4-D choline active in Enlist Duo herbicide, glyphosate, and glufosinate (Liberty) herbicides. Corteva Agriscience offered a limited supply… Read More
After a turbulent growing season, good weather finally has Ontario’s soybean crop maturing quickly and speeding toward harvest. Soybeans are loving the September conditions, says BASF business representative Ken Currah, as they’re starting to ripen and mature. For many growers that means it’s time to consider pre-harvest burndown to either even up the crop moisture… Read More
Soybean growers looking for cover crops that can deliver soil health benefits and weed suppression without a yield hit may want to consider planting into cereal rye. Based on Ontario testing conducted in 2017 and 2018, planting soybeans into standing rye doesn’t hurt your soybean yields, says Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs… Read More
The Harrington Seed Destructor made its foray into Canadian agriculture in 2014, offering with it an opportunity to increase integrated pest management strategies on-farm, by mechanically reducing weed seed banks at harvest. It is now into its third year of a research study looking at its impact on weed populations over time. In this Wheat… Read More