Crop Report – Week of August 23rd, 2023

What to do with those stubble fields now? Consider BioStrip Till!

Winter wheat combining has almost wrapped up across the province after a challenging harvest due to persistent rainfall. There is a lot of enthusiasm for wheat across Ontario as yields were good to excellent and quality was good.

Now, what to do with the wheat stubble? If you have manure, now is the best time to apply it onto stubble fields, since they are drier and better able to tolerate the heavy manure application equipment. Summer manure applications need additional management to trap nitrogen. Tillage is one method and planting over-wintering cover crops to take up the nitrogen is another viable option.

Lots of fields get tilled even without the manure this time of year. Tillage can be very effective at creating a suitable seedbed for even germination, but why do it so far ahead of seeding the crop next spring? Full field tillage after wheat harvest increases soil erosion potential throughout the fall and winter and can stimulate a lot of weeds to germinate. Eroded fields require more tillage in the spring to prepare for planting. Both the erosion threat and weed issue can be addressed by seeding cover crops. The cover crop benefits increase greatly if either overwintered live or terminated late fall chemically without tillage. Also, despite the operational cost, direct seeding cover crops is the best method to ensure optimal germination and growth. Many use broadcast seeders and tillage to establish cover crops, which tends to be less effective.

The advantage of cover crops are: less tillage, there are living plants in the field to support soil biology, improved soil tilth and weeds are suppressed. This suppression of weeds following cereals is so much more important these days. With the continued increase in herbicide weed resistance, the continued fight with fleabane, and an even greater threat in water hemp being found in the province, we just cannot let those weeds grow and go to seed like we have in the past. The risk of getting more and broader resistance is just too great. In the past it was relatively easy to manage all those weed seeds added to the soil seed bank from stubble fields, but its significantly more of a problem today.

Some innovative farmers in Ontario have adopted a system that expands on the cover crop idea to get the benefits of tillage at planting: BioStrip Til! BioStrip till encompasses separate cover crop mixes that are planted in strips across the field. These strips alternate between “corn rows” and “wheel rows”. Cover crop species that winterkill are planted in the corn rows. In spring there is only some dead plant residue that can be notill planted or use a light “cleaning” of the row can be done to push that residue aside. In the wheel row, over-wintering species are chosen so that they are green in the spring and act to dry and warm the soil while supporting the weight of equipment better than worked ground. This system also offers a modified controlled traffic flow which reduces compaction in the corn row area. Once the crop is planted a normal burndown + residual herbicide program is applied to terminate the wheel row cover crops and provide season long weed control like other corn systems.

Note that the BioStrip Till system leaves the soil protected from erosion and degradation throughout the rotation because of the living cover crops following wheat harvest, wheat planted after soybean harvest, and corn residue left undisturbed following corn harvest. Soils are most susceptible to erosion and damage during the non-growing season portion of the year. Many acres across Ontario are not protected in their current system and BioStrip Till provides this protection beyond all the corn production benefits. (See Table 1).

Those making the system work are finding comparable yields to their conventional tillage neighbours with less effort. The system involves less tractors, less fuel, fewer passes, and less (no) tillage equipment. Equipped with a good corn planter, seed drill, sprayer, combine with high end straw chopper and a “row cleaner” you are all set. There is a “mindset” shift needed in our heads about what “normal” is because the BioStrip Till system going into winter would scare a lot of people because of how “chaotic” it appears but those who have changed their thinking are benefiting from this exciting system. Join the Fall BioStrip Till Tour on Friday, September 8, 2023, in Strathroy and Lucknow where you can see these systems in action. Farmers are welcome to attend either or both locations. See the flyer at https://bit.ly/Biostrip_Tour (that’s a “Biostrip_Tour”, if you’re typing it in).

Table 1. Sequence of BioStrip Till System

Weather Data – August 14 – 20, 2023

Location	Year	Highest Temp (°C)	Lowest Temp (°C)	Rain (mm)	Rain (mm) April 1st	GDD 0C April 1st	GDD 5C April 1st	CHU May 1st
Harrow	2023	24.9	10.8	68.6	451	2346	1652	2496
	2022	27.9	13.4	17.8	374	2478	1796	2753
	10 YR Norm (11 – 20)	26.7	13.7	20.5	448	2563	1825	2867
Ridgetown	2023	25.4	8.7	28.9	459	2233	1548	2334
	2022	29.5	10.9	30.5	268	2340	1665	2541
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	26.6	12.5	10.3	405	2412	1679	2670
London	2023	24.9	9.1	26.4	477	2216	1531	2322
	2022	29.2	12.9	12.6	306	2275	1610	2473
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	26.3	12.7	18.0	422	2392	1663	2654
Brantford	2023	25.8	7.9	40.7	413	2199	1513	2297
	2022	30.0	12.5	3.1	270	2289	1613	2426
Welland	2023	25.7	11.4	34.2	442	2236	1544	2349
	2022	30.4	13.0	15.4	291	2343	1658	2556
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	26.6	12.3	11.2	376	2407	1677	2675
Elora	2023	24.6	7.1	20.6	390	2034	1365	2113
	2022	29.6	10.5	4.4	228	2097	1433	2224
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	25.3	10.9	20.4	422	2162	1446	2376
Mount Forest	2023	24.7	8.2	12.1	362	2036	1372	2126
	2022	28.3	10.9	3.6	310	2091	1434	2259
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	24.9	11.9	23.6	435	2148	1440	2391
Peterborough	2023	27.1	11.0	6.3	408	2083	1402	2128
	2022	30.2	6.6	38.6	304	2110	1432	2245
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	26.4	10.1	17.8	374	2196	1479	2382
Kemptville	2023	27.0	13.2	7.4	479	2217	1540	2299
	2022	31.3	9.9	0.2	406	2257	1559	2438
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	27.4	12.0	35.0	423	2310	1595	2547
Earlton	2023	26.4	8.5	11.8	310	1889	1260	1993
	2022	28.2	10.6	31.2	326	1905	1276	2091
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	23.7	10.5	19.7	360	1880	1248	2120
Sudbury	2023	25.7	7.3	14.4	473	1915	1287	2028
	2022	27.0	10.7	6.5	296	1928	1290	2143
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	23.6	11.0	18.3	395	2012	1357	2276
Thunder Bay	2023	27.7	6.1	7.2	241	1737	1130	1858
	2022	28.7	7.6	23.2	445	1688	1087	1816
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	24.1	9.0	12.5	363	1797	1153	1976
Fort Frances	2023	29.7	5.3	1.6	292	1899	1285	2057
	2022	27.5	6.0	21.6	555	1771	1173	1974
	10 YR Avg. (2011-20)	25.1	8.6	12.3	367	1920	1258	2124