Conditions: Below average temperatures persisted throughout most of April. At Ottawa, approximately 100 CHU and 65 mm of rain were accumulated in April. Soils dried slowly and field activity only picked up during the last few days of April. Forages: Alfalfa winter survival is excellent, generally in the 90% plus range. Alfalfa fields not harvested […]
Chair for this meeting was Steve Johns. Chair for next meeting will be Eric Richter. Synopsis: Considerable spring cereal acreage has now been seeded, although not as much as intended. Hopefully the weather stays dry so that growers can finish up with cereals this week. Some oat fields have now been seeded for over 10 days. A […]
Diseases and pathogens are always a risk, but with Avian Influenza and PEDv outbreaks in Ontario extra vigilance is required. The poultry and swine industry are doing their part to prevent spread of the diseases. However, as farmers, custom work operators and agronomists begin spring field work, including manure application, it is extremely important that […]
Synopsis: April 1 to April 20 at Simcoe 102 CHU have been accumulated and average temperature was 7.5o C . Official CHU recording begins May 1st. 39.9 mm of precipitation fell as rain and/or snow. Crops that have been planted into plastic are being protected against forecast snow and freezing temperatures. Cool conditions over past […]
It’s springtime and we are anxious to get on the land and get our new forage seedings in the ground. There are a few common mistakes made that limit the success of new forage seedings and future yields and quality. 1. Not Seeding New Forage Stands Often Enough Many alfalfa-based stands are simply too old, […]
Synopsis: Rainfall across the region was variable 0.3” in Essex, 0.7” to 1” in Chatham-Kent, 0.3” to 0.5” in South Lambton, Elgin and the rest of Lambton about 1”. A small amount of corn went in on the weekend; most are planning to start planting around the 25th. Some spring cereals were seeded on the […]
A successful forage establishment is a uniform, weed free stand that will grow quickly and vigorously to provide high yields during that first year, and for the life of the stand. The most critical factors include packing a firm seedbed and proper seed placement. Seedbed Preparation The goals of forage seedbed preparation are: to produce […]
There is some confusion on the approach for managing glyphosate resistant Canada fleabane in soybeans. I provide two scenarios that have been often asked this past winter and their solutions based on the learnings of Dr. Peter Sikkema’s applied research program out of the University of Guelph (Ridgetown campus). Scenario # 1: No-till soybeans with […]
Synopsis: Winter wheat survival has been good in most areas. Nitrogen application varies between 30-40% up to 70-90% in areas to the south. Lots of intentions to apply red clover into wheat, but single cut clover seed is in short supply. Spring cereal planting is 25-40% complete. Agricorp reports only 200 winter wheat damage reports, […]
There is clearly a renewed interest in trapping for Western bean cutworm (WBC) in 2015. This is understandable, given that WBC caught us off guard in 2014 with ear damage being reported across much of Ontario, beyond our typical hot spot areas. Sign up to the Ontario WBC Trap Network: We will be mapping trap […]
Conditions: Moderate temperatures at the end of winter, combined with limited precipitation minimized spring water runoff and soil erosion. Soil is drying slowly, allowing for only limited field activity to date. Alfalfa: Winter survival generally looks excellent. Alfalfa has 1 to 2 inches of new growth at this point and is showing no sign of […]
April 14, 2015 Malibu Restaurant, Exeter Chair for this meeting was David Townsend. Chair for next meeting is Steve Johns. The meeting on May 12 will be chaired by Eric Richter. There was an excellent turnout to the first meeting of the 2015 growing season. Thank you to all those who attended and participated in […]
Synopsis: Very little field work has been done to date. There is still frost in the ground below 4” especially where there are significant crop residues present. The snow melted without any significant rainfall so there was very little ponding of water on wheat and very little freeze thaw. 50 to 75% of the unseeded […]