Enhancing Corn & Soybean Yields in Ontario How adding complexity to crop rotations and diversity to tillage practices can benefit corn and soybean growers long term. Gone are the days of grandpa getting the tractor and 3 furrow plow out to work the whole farm each fall after harvest. For decades now, producers have been […]
South and West According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: Bruce, Grey, Dufferin, Simcoe, Niagara, Elgin, and parts of Lambton and Middlesex received average or above average precipitation for June. The rest of the region had below-average rainfall. Above-average levels of winterkill reduced yields in affected fields. Although some dairy producers cut on their preferred calendar […]
Spring Roundup As we close out the 2022 spring planting window, for the most part we see crops in good shape, but as always, there are regional differences. Alfalfa in western and southwestern Ontario suffered a great deal of die out this winter. Farmers had to make quick plans to address this issue. Alternatively, alfalfa […]
Description Blister beetles are very rare in Ontario but have been occasionally found in alfalfa fields north of Lake Erie. They are more common in arid climates, such as the U.S. Midwest, and are often associated with grasshopper infestations. The three most common species are the black blister beetle (Epicauta pensylvanica), the ash grey blister […]
Nitrogen (N) dynamics are always complicated, but manure adds a few layers of complexity. Nitrogen availability is impacted by soil texture, soil moisture, organic matter levels in the soil, form of N applied and of course, the weather. An application of liquid finisher hog manure applied ahead of planting would be expected to provide about […]
Conditions Regions of Eastern Ontario saw heavy rainfall throughout the evening of June 21. Reports of anywhere from half an inch (15 mm) in the Eastern Lanark area to close to 5” (127 mm) of rain in parts of Renfrew were the kickoff to the last breakfast meeting for the region for the 2022 growing […]
Insect/Pest Update – Current Issues Cereal leaf beetle (CLB) populations have reached threshold in some spring cereal fields this week (Figure 1). CLB larvae and adults feed on the tissue between leaf veins, leaving long scratch marks that can make plants appear silver or frosted from a distance. Before boot stage, the threshold is an […]
Cooler than normal conditions marked the last week, with ideal temperatures for grain fill of winter wheat. A heat wave takes effect this week, with temperatures over 30 C in store for Tuesday and Wednesday. Soybeans Soybean growth has been slower than normal due to recent cooler temperatures. Late April planted soybeans are at the […]
Wednesday, June 15th was the fourth and final northern agribusiness breakfast meeting for the 2022 planting season. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend these meetings and share what is happening on the ground across the north. Ben Rosser, OMAFRA Corn Specialist, shared some research results on optimizing nitrogen application rates, and the […]
Soybean Update Soybeans range from VE (emergence) to the fourth trifoliate leaf stage. The majority of the crop was planted in May, although sporadic showers meant that some could not be planted until June. A few soybeans were planted in April. They are now at the fifth trifoliate leaf stage. Ideally, soybeans should have 6 […]
Weather Rainfall amounts ranged from 18 to 35 mm over Sunday-Tuesday. For the first time in a long time, the rainfall fell more evenly over a wide area. In the east central area this was welcome as things were getting dry. To the south and east where more rainfall has occurred over the spring, it […]
Conditions For most of southern and central Ontario, this week’s rains were timely to support crop establishment. Precipitation June 7th ranged from 12 to 50 mm (1 to 2 inch), with regional reports in southern Ontario (Lambton, Middlesex, Bruce and Grey counties) reporting over 50 to 55 mm (2 to 2.3 inch). Cereals Herbicide applications […]
The morning of the meeting, rain was still falling and had been since the previous evening. Reported rainfall amounts at the time ranged from 0.5- 1.25 inches, with some in southern counties (Lambton, Middlesex, Bruce and Grey counties) reporting over 2 inches. Cereals Herbicide applications are underway in spring cereals and reports indicate these crops […]
Wednesday June 1st was the third virtual Northern Breakfast Meeting. The last meeting will be held on Wednesday June 15th at 8:30am EDT and we will be joined by Ben Rosser, OMAFRA Corn Specialist. This week we heard from Horst Bohner, OMAFRA Soybean Specialist. Horst touched on a few soybeans topics, as follows: Seeding Depth […]
Reports are coming in that black cutworm larvae are cutting corn and even soybeans. We don’t often see cutting in soybeans but two fields in Niagara region were reported today with significant stand loss and a variety of sizes of larvae (Figures 1 & 2). Fields not treated with an insecticide seed treatment or planted […]