Growing Degree Days (GDD) are an indicator of expected crop development based on weather conditions. GDDs are calculated by taking the mean temperature over a day and subtracting a base temperature. For most cereal grains, the base temperature is considered 5 degrees C, as they require around 1200 GDD to reach maturity. GDD = (Tmax + Tmin)… Read More
Tag: Richard Marsh
Seed size can vary significantly, making planting by weight or volume alone a rather untrustworthy endeavour. So it’s no wonder calculating seeding rates based on the thousand kernel weight (TKW) of the desired crop is advised by so many researchers and agronomists. In this Wheat School, Richard Marsh of Syngenta re-joins Lyndsey Smith to compare plant stands achieved… Read More
A drawn out start to the growing season doesn’t necessarily mean a drawn out growing season. Warm days with plenty of sun and mean growing degree days accumulate quickly, sending crops through their growth stages quickly, if the moisture is there. Wheat, and in this case winter wheat, can at times throw a curve ball… Read More
Regardless of the disease pressure mix on your farm, maintaining a disease-free flag and penultimate leaf is a key means of ensuring max wheat yield. Early season leaf disease can seem benign enough, but in the right conditions diseases like tan spot and septoria can move up through the canopy quickly and eventually begin compromising… Read More
Over the last 10 years, the thoughts and the strategy behind fungicide application have changed dramatically. Whether it’s new information brought to light by research or changing external circumstances, the process behind how farmers make fungicide decisions has evolved. Over the short term, some of those external changes that have influenced decision making involve the… Read More
It was just over a year ago that parts of Manitoba experienced major flooding as heavy rains caused rivers to overflow their banks and fields to become unworkable. In a few areas farmers are still dealing with the effects of those wet conditions, in other areas life is back to normal. We decided to turn… Read More
The decision to apply a fungicide to your wheat crop can be made a little easier if understand the return on your investment. Yield equals dollars and if you’re in an area that’s at risk for disease. Protecting your crops yield potential is benefit number 1. Fungicides first and foremost provide a preventative level of… Read More
On most years seeding earlier provides opportunities for large reward in terms of yield. Now that many farmers are racing against the calendar to try and get seeded as soon as they can, there are some considerations being made. One of the main questions that many farmers are dealing with is whether they should seed… Read More