Planting progress has been slow over the last week although a few areas did make headway. Less than 10% of the crop has been planted to date. Soil potassium levels have slipped in Ontario with estimates that up to 20% of Ontario fields may be below ideal levels for soybeans. Applying potassium in the spring […]
Warm temperatures and showers will result in rapid growth during the next few weeks. First rotation management will set the stage for remainder of the season. Leaving 7-10 cm of grass after grazing will allow for rapid regrowth and the development of a strong stand. Grass based pastures will respond to an early June nitrogen […]
Corn planting ranges from 50 to 95% complete; provincially corn planting is estimated at 80%. In most areas rainfall has not been intense and soils remain in good shape despite large acreages without significant residue cover. Corn requires about 180 CHU to emerge. Corn planted April 16-20 is emerging this week. Most reports suggest that […]
Winter wheat is advancing rapidly with warmer temperatures. The window for herbicide applications is closing as fields reach flag leaf stage. Flag leaf herbicide applications run a high risk of crop injury. If weeds are a harvest issue, pre-harvest glyphosate is the best option on advanced fields. Early wheat at Harrow is just beginning to […]
Canola: Planting is 95 % complete in southern growing areas and nicely started in northern districts. April planted fields are at cotyledon-1st leaf stage. Flea beetles are now actively feeding. Populations are highest in field borders. Threshold for control is 25% leaf feeding. Weeds are emerging with the canola. Critical weed control period is 1 […]
Discussion: From mid to the end of April, Ottawa accumulated about 60 CHUs, or about 1/3 of the CHU needed for corn emergence. Snow/Canada geese are damaging a number of winter wheat and alfalfa fields. Cereals Frequent light frosts caused leaf tip burn in some of the winter wheat. The damage is localized and should […]
Some frost damage to alfalfa occurred again in late-April, mostly in areas in south-western Ontario. Some of these fields were also frost damaged in late-March. Regrowth of these fields will likely occur, but maturity will be delayed and yields reduced. www.fieldcropnews.com/?p=2236 With dry April weather, most new forage seedings were completed in good time. Once […]
Approximately 5% of the overall acreage has been planted. Once fields dry planting will start in earnest. There is no reason to wait at this date even if soil temperatures are cool. The yield benefit of early planting generally outweighs the risk of planting into cold soils. Seeding rate recommendations are significantly lower in some […]
Pasture growth continues to be modest with cool temperatures and limited moisture until this past week. For optimum pasture performance give the grasses and legumes an opportunity to produce a minimum of 10-12 cm of new growth before turning livestock into a paddock. In an ideal situation each paddock provides one day’s forage for the […]
Corn planting is 20-90% complete depending on the area of the province; provincially planting is estimated at 65%. Some of the early (i.e. April 5-15) planted corn had emerged and the cold temperatures of April 27, 28 & 29 froze the above ground tissue. However, to date, growing point and seed integrity remains high in […]
Freeze injury is a significant concern in the winter cereal crop with the very low temperatures of April 27/28/29. Leaf damage is significant in most fields, but it is head damage that is critical. Split stems in frost prone areas. Heads should be bright green to yellow. Discoloured or water soaked appearance of heads indicates […]
Planting is 70 % complete in southern areas, and freezing overnight temperatures has kept most growers in northern areas out of the field. Cold temperatures are delaying emergence, with early planted canola taking 14-21 days to emerge. There have been several reports of low emergence and frost damage to very early planted canola. Begin to […]
Included: Freeze injury, glyphosate resistant weeds, weed control, wheat disease, soybean seeding rates. Synopsis: Extremely cold temperatures over the weekend caused widespread damage to fruit trees, etc. Temperatures as low as -8 C were measured with one report of -10 at ground level (Norfolk county). Weekend low temperature maps are available at http://www.weatherinnovations.com. Wheat, alfalfa […]
Key messages: Ensure at least 2 modes of action are used in all herbicide applications as part of the resistance management strategy. Where weed escapes from burndown treatments require additional glyphosphate, we need to send the message of combined modes of action as good weed management stewardship, even for in-crop applications. With glyphosphate resistant fleabane […]
Alfalfa Weevil Reports from Michigan and Iowa indicate that alfalfa weevils were activity is early this year. We’ve had some fairly warm weather earlier this spring and the weevils likely have had a bit of a head start. I was out in some fields in Oxford this week and I found some early instar larvae […]