Farm Tech this year was great! Lots of interesting speakers and a topic for everyone.
For the next few weeks we will be sharing with you some of the sessions notes.
This weeks topic is Pushing Wheat Yields to 150 bu/ac presented by Peter Johnson from Ontario.
There is no silver bullet and the secret to high yielding wheat is truly the combination of:
*effective hherbicide use
*semi dwarf varieties
*increased and well timed Nitrogen
*fungicide to keep the plants alive and using nitrogen as long as possible.
The biggest benefit yield wise that they have seen is when they combine 150 lbs of total N used throughout the season and at least one application of fungicide to keep that plant alive. The only problem this could potentially bring to us in Alberta is the risk of the crop maturing late and or lodging.
Peter put a lot of emphasis on seeding rate. According to him if you are still talking bushels for seeding rate you need to change that first to 1.5 million seeds per meter squared. This should give you a desired plant stand of 700 heads/ meter squared and that is hoping for only one tiller per plant.
If you are not able to get semi dwarf varieties then that causes a few issues such as lodging and spreading of straw, and straw causes issues with seed emergence.
Use ESN as it does show yield response consistently.
Use seed treatments they work.
Seeding date wise you want to aim to have the wheat in full pollination by June 21 so work backwards form there ( in a perfect unfrozen world). Seeding date is Very important because being a week late can cost you 30 % of your yield.
Seed depth is important as well because if you are deeper than and 1 inch in good moisture then you are also loosing yield.
From Peter's experience the 12 inch row space is an in-efficient use of sunlight and it makes room for weeds. Overall decreases yield. He likes 7 inch row space. More plants/M2 and a more even crop.
Every rain storm during harvest reduces your bushel weight by 1 lb per rain strom.
Crop will use 1/3 of its N needs up front and then 2/3 of its N needs about 1-2 weeks ahead of flag timing.
Be careful not to burn your seed with your fert.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Water volumes and speed of application
Last week we had both Allan Anderson with Bayer and Tylor Hunt with Syngenta out talking about disease management. During their presentations they both touched on the importance of coverage when applying herbicides and especially fungicides. Water volume and speed are the two main things that will make or break the results you will see after application.
There is no fungicide that is registered for control and this is because of a few reasons, not least of which is coverage. Tylor's summer student had done an experiment by wrapping litmus paper around some flags that he had situated like wheat heads. He took a typical high clearance sprayer and passed over the "wheat heads" at different speeds and different water volumes. The results where not surprising based on every spray study that has been done, but interesting just the same. The higher the water volume and the lower the speed, the better the coverage on the litmus paper. The opposite was also true. Best results where at about 8 miles/hour at at least 10 gallons of water. The higher the speed or the lower the water volume, the more of the "wheat head" was missed be it the back or the front of the head.
The problem is, how many people actually spray at a minimum of 10 gallons and at 8 miles/hour when they have 2500 acres to cover and still make it to the lake in the middle of July? Here is the thing, the registered water volume and suggested speed of application are not there to make your life miserable, but instead they are there because of all the tests done. Those numbers are the lowest number possible to still get optimal results.
Allan with Bayer has done some work with this too, and has actually found that in many cases, 1 pass of Libery with low travel speeds and high water volume has better control than two passes with low water volume and high travel speeds. Contact chemicals must hit the plants with more than one drop to have an effect on the target, be it a disease or a weed, or and insect.
If you are going to spend the money and time on spraying then bite the bullet and use the recommended W/V and slow down so the spray actually has a chance of hitting your target zone.
There is no fungicide that is registered for control and this is because of a few reasons, not least of which is coverage. Tylor's summer student had done an experiment by wrapping litmus paper around some flags that he had situated like wheat heads. He took a typical high clearance sprayer and passed over the "wheat heads" at different speeds and different water volumes. The results where not surprising based on every spray study that has been done, but interesting just the same. The higher the water volume and the lower the speed, the better the coverage on the litmus paper. The opposite was also true. Best results where at about 8 miles/hour at at least 10 gallons of water. The higher the speed or the lower the water volume, the more of the "wheat head" was missed be it the back or the front of the head.
The problem is, how many people actually spray at a minimum of 10 gallons and at 8 miles/hour when they have 2500 acres to cover and still make it to the lake in the middle of July? Here is the thing, the registered water volume and suggested speed of application are not there to make your life miserable, but instead they are there because of all the tests done. Those numbers are the lowest number possible to still get optimal results.
Allan with Bayer has done some work with this too, and has actually found that in many cases, 1 pass of Libery with low travel speeds and high water volume has better control than two passes with low water volume and high travel speeds. Contact chemicals must hit the plants with more than one drop to have an effect on the target, be it a disease or a weed, or and insect.
If you are going to spend the money and time on spraying then bite the bullet and use the recommended W/V and slow down so the spray actually has a chance of hitting your target zone.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
2013 Things to watch for
According to the Alberta AG insect forecasting maps along with a lot of chatter in the industry about it, Berth Army worm numbers are expected to be high again for 2013. The population trend is a three year cycles for Bertha's typically. First year being slightly higher than normal, second year quite high and the third year is the peak. Typically by the fourth year the parasite population is high enough to effectively control the Bertha's. So with this forecast you will want to make sure to get out and plan to scout your fields. Here are a few added tips to make your life easier come late July and early August:
* It is practically impossible to scout the entire field without a tram line across it. Cut across your canola fields make an "X" or some type of pattern with your quad ect that you can travel the entire season to make sure you can see more than just the front corner of the crop.
* Pay attention to Bertha moth numbers in the traps in late May- June, this is a big indicator of overall population and a good timing tool of when to expect the larva to hatch. ( we have the link to the maps and the trap counts at the bottom of our web site home page.)
* The threshold might be different this year based on over all population and its relation to the low parasite population expected this year.
* All of this will depend slightly on the weather and the wind patterns so don't panic but just be aware to not take off for the entire summer only to return to empty canola fields.
As another precaution the Alberta Ag web site is also calling for an increase in Midge numbers for 2013. 2012 was predicted to be a high year for midge as well but with the low growing degree days and heat units until later on in the season we got away pretty easy. Midge is very weather dependant as they will not emerge from the ground until enough growing degree days have accumulated. These maps and forecast are also on the Alberta Ag web site at www.agri.gov.ab.ca. The maps show that we may not get off so easy this year.
Moral of this story is to keep an eye out and to plan to be scouting your fields proactively this year so you don't miss the boat!
* It is practically impossible to scout the entire field without a tram line across it. Cut across your canola fields make an "X" or some type of pattern with your quad ect that you can travel the entire season to make sure you can see more than just the front corner of the crop.
* Pay attention to Bertha moth numbers in the traps in late May- June, this is a big indicator of overall population and a good timing tool of when to expect the larva to hatch. ( we have the link to the maps and the trap counts at the bottom of our web site home page.)
* The threshold might be different this year based on over all population and its relation to the low parasite population expected this year.
* All of this will depend slightly on the weather and the wind patterns so don't panic but just be aware to not take off for the entire summer only to return to empty canola fields.
As another precaution the Alberta Ag web site is also calling for an increase in Midge numbers for 2013. 2012 was predicted to be a high year for midge as well but with the low growing degree days and heat units until later on in the season we got away pretty easy. Midge is very weather dependant as they will not emerge from the ground until enough growing degree days have accumulated. These maps and forecast are also on the Alberta Ag web site at www.agri.gov.ab.ca. The maps show that we may not get off so easy this year.
Moral of this story is to keep an eye out and to plan to be scouting your fields proactively this year so you don't miss the boat!
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