Synopsis: Corn planting is 85% complete, with 10% of soys planted. Wheat has progressed rapidly, with earliest wheat pushing the flag leaf stage: soon beyond herbicide applications. A great deal of sulphur deficiency is showing in wheat. Fortunately frost was a near miss with little damage. Glyphosate resistant weeds have been positively identified in Huron […]
May 7, 2013 ~ Variable Rate Corn Population: Yesterday was a sunny and successful variable rate planting day at Blythe Brae Farms in Oxford County. Greg Stewart and I created a normalized multi-year corn yield map (6 corn years in total) and then simplified the normalized yield map into 3 zones: low, medium, and high. Next the management zones were […]
Synopsis: Tremendous activity on the lighter textured soils (south of Hwy 401) with 80% corn planted on lighter soils. Planting on clay soils is just starting. Just a few soybeans planted but many growers gearing up if weather allows. Manganese and sulphur deficiencies are evident in the wheat crop. Advanced wheat is at flag leaf […]
I took the above video in 2010 when a lot of corn was planted in mid April and had emerged nicely only to be hit with a frost in May. Although the injury looked bad at the time, because the growing point was below the ground the crop made a complete recovery and 2010 saw […]
Synopsis: Amazing how so much fieldwork can be accomplished in 1 week of ideal weather. Light textured soils are 90+ % planted for corn, while heavy textured clays of Haldimand and Wentworth are just getting started with about 10% planted; Niagara (Wainfleet area) about 30%. On the Haldimand clays, more beans are planted so far […]
Synopsis: Most nitrogen has now been applied to wheat. Many abandoned plans for split application. Corn planting ranges from 10% – 50% complete. Availability of rental fertilizer spreaders, custom application and accessing of UAN are creating bottlenecks. Growers are beginning to use packers/rollers due to dry soil conditions. Cereals: Much of the winter wheat is now in […]
Alfalfa winterkill is particularly severe in the Ottawa Valley and New Liskeard areas. There are many options to consider for emergency forage, depending on the calendar date, urgency for short term feed, and forage yield and nutrient quality requirements. Refer to “Forage Options When Alfalfa Winterkill Strikes” (https://fieldcropnews.com/?p=6680) Forage supplies are extremely tight, and forage […]
It is rare to experience back to back armyworm outbreak years. This is usually because the natural enemies (particularly parasites and entomopathogens) build up in an outbreak year and are in good supply the following year to keep up with the armyworm. However, armyworm outbreaks do tend to occur after a cool, wet April since […]
The area accumulated about 60 Crop Heat Units (CHUs) from 15th to the 30th of April, which is the same as last year for the same period (FarmZone). We received 1.5 to 2 inches (40 to 50 mm) of rain in April. Soils are slow to warm up. To-date only 20% of the spring cereals […]
Synopsis: 30% of wheat acres have had N applied. Yellow/brown/dead(?) wheat in low areas or on heavy soils from twice normal April rainfall. Few acres of corn planted, some spring cereals and new forage seedings. Winter annual weeds have bolted: control will be difficult (impossible). Soybean cyst nematode sampling project in Huron county: more SCN […]
Scattered reports are coming in from across the province of alfalfa winterkill in some of the higher risk older stands and fall harvested stands. Extensive winterkill has occurred in eastern Ontario, from Arnprior south, east to Quebec and west to about Brockville. There are reports of 75% winterkill in some of these areas, particularly on […]
Red clover haylage can sometimes be a good alternative to alfalfa. Under ideal conditions alfalfa will usually outyield red clover. However, in areas where alfalfa winterkill is a problem, red clover better tolerates imperfect drainage and lower pH levels, and can be grown in fields that are too wet or low pH for alfalfa. Red clover feed […]
Reseeding alfalfa following alfalfa is not a recommended practice due to the effects of autotoxicity, and plant diseases that can build up in the old stand. Alfalfa autotoxicity occurs when established alfalfa plants produce toxins which reduce both the germination (establishment) and the growth (yield) of new alfalfa plants. Autotoxicity can occur when alfalfa is reseeded into an […]
Winterkill of forage stands is significant in many parts of eastern Ontario this spring. Both new forage seedings and older stands areeffected. A decision must be made to either keep and manage a reduced stand, or replace the stand with another crop. The first thing that forage growers need to do is to walk their […]
Highlights: Wet and cool weather has slowed spring field activity. This spring is more typical and most producers have not rushed to start planting. Corn planting started yesterday in some areas, but others are holding off. Growers that planted corn April 15 last year are less anxious to start early. Best yields came from the […]