Tag: Holly Gelech

Using glyphosate as a harvest aid and weed management tool most certainly has its place on the farm, but it carries a measure of risk, as well. Go in too early and not only can you rob the crop of yield, but the resulting seed may also end up damaged by the chemical application. Related:… Read More

In farming, we want two very opposite things from seed — we want a seed that stores well, perhaps even long term, but also a seed that, the moment conditions are right, it speedily germinates and becomes a hardy seedling. You can’t always have it both ways, of course, and the inner workings of a… Read More

Let’s say the planning stages go like this: crop rotation, variety selection, seed testing, determine seeding rate and so on. If you’re a farmer who doesn’t typically test seed or who may be thinking of skipping this step in an effort to save on costs, this episode of the Pulse School is for you. In… Read More

Seed labs, the services they offer and the role they play in crop production is changing. Within the year, changes to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will shift certain roles and responsibilities to the private sector. Crop inspection services and some analytical services will move outside of the CFIA and seed testing labs are… Read More

Can you spot a chemically damaged wheat seedling from a healthy one? Unlike some other damage or infection, chemically damaged cereal seedlings don’t always look that bad off in the very early stages. In fact, seedlings can even put out a mostly healthy shoot, but upon further investigation the trained eye will notice that the… Read More

Seed that looks mature and healthy but won’t sprout could be dormant. What does this mean for seed supplies, and is there anything special you should do before sending in seed samples for testing to try and break it? No, says Holly Gelech, business development manager with Biovision Seed Labs. Dormant seeds are still considered… Read More

Seeding winter wheat while you’re busy with harvest can take some time to wrap your head around. At the same time, there are several advantages to breaking out the seeder after the canola comes off the field. While the weather and soil conditions may be significantly different for September seeding than May, the importance of… Read More

It’s an unfortunate thing, but farmers in each of the Prairie Provinces must think about clubroot this spring and throughout the growing season. While it’s still overwhelmingly most common in the Edmonton area, clubroot spores have been confirmed in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba fields. For those more acquainted with the threat, soil testing is one… Read More

Pure seed is pure seed, right? Well, yes and no. When it comes to seed testing, purity can take on a few different meanings. Some of the distinctions are set out by CFIA, but other tests are used to confirm the presence or absence of a trait or gene. There are actually four different types of… Read More

Ah, early spring — the days are getting longer, the snow is starting to melt ever so slightly, and farmers are dusting off the machinery in hopes of an early seeding season. While many are fine-tuning their crop rotations and acreage counts, the savvy farmer is also pouring over seed test results and using the… Read More