A collective summary of information gleaned from the weekly breakfast meeting minutes with local crop consultants in Ontario
Synopsis: It is National Soil Conservation Week! Wheat survival is extremely spotty. Estimate 10-15% will be replanted. Nitrogen applications are gearing up. Corn and sweet corn planting have started: excellent uptake of Fluency Agent by growers. Sugar beet and pea plantings are underway. Soils are drying nicely. Western bean cutworm is not expected to have […]
Cold soil temperature remains an issue. Agricorp have recieved numerous winter wheat damage reports; they have been inspecting west of Chatham, but are delaying inspection east of that. In the Barrie / GTA area, 10-15% of wheat-planted area is being put down. Planting into difficult conditions last fall e.g. smearing, may have contributed to poor […]
Conditions: More rainfall in region south and east of Ottawa over the April 12th weekend. Fields are generally saturated. Upper Ottawa Valley has drier conditions. Moisture from snow melt got away with very little ponding in most areas. Alfalfa: Winter survival looks good to date. Alfalfa has 2 to 3 inches of new growth at […]
Issues this year will be managing temperature in furrow, and wet soils. A comparison of soil temperatures at 2 and 4” deep in Lampton county over the past 5 years (courtesy of Geoff Smith of Agricorp) shows snowmelt followed by cold temperatures caused a notable drop in mid-March. Given that soils are saturated, will further […]
April 15, 2014 Malibu Restaurant, Exeter Chair for this meeting was Jim Morlock Chair for next meeting is Blair Chowen Synopsis: An estimated 60% of the winter wheat crop will be under seeded with red clover. Less than 10% complete to the north, up to 50% complete in this area. Virtually no nitrogen on wheat: […]
Note: New Location for Ridgetown AgBreakfast Meeting is the Campus Centre in the basement of Willson Hall, 7:15 am (U of Guelph Ridgetown Campus). A big thank-you to our Breakfast sponsor this week “St. Clair Region Soil and Crop Improvement Association” and Chad Anderson for their support. There are plenty of opportunities for others to […]
This meeting was hosted by the Huron Research Station. Thanks for breakfast and an excellent tour. We appreciate the work conducted for Ontario Agriculture at the Huron Research Station. Synopsis: Rainfall has been excessive in many areas but things are actually starting to get dry in some regions. This has been a year with many issues mostly due to […]
Rainfall accumulation across the region for the past week was approx. 40 mm (1.5 inches), nearly double the weekly normal. Since May 1st, the area accumulated about 130 mm of rain, which is slightly above the average and roughly 600 Crop Heat Units, which is on par with the 30 year average. Forages: First […]
Synopsis: Note: the June 25th meeting will be at the Huron Research Station. Excessive rainfall has caused erosion and emergence problems. Corn is recovering from the frost. Zinc deficiency is apparent in corn. A tremendous amount of spraying needs to be accomplished with soils too wet to carry. Spray based on the growth stage of the weed not the crop! […]
Synopsis: Frost damage and problems caused by excessive rains such as erosion, uneven soybean emergence on clay due to dry, then wet conditions. Rains in next few days will help resolve this. Corn drowned by 100 mm of rain near Lake Erie will likely get replanted. In the past two weeks 90 to 1125 […]
Synopsis: Note next meeting location change below. WET and COLD! Frost hit the area the mornings of May 25 to 27 causing damage to corn, tomatoes, wheat and soybeans. Dry soils made affected areas more susceptible to the frost. Rainfall came following the frost: the first significant rain in over a month for some areas. […]
Synopsis: Rainfall over the weekend varied from 25-75 ml. Several areas report receiving over 7.5″ rain in past 2 weeks. Corn emergence is generally good. Soybean planting is generally 75% complete but varies from 20-100%. Growers in north Dufferin and south Simcoe have had particularly difficult time completing field work due to wet conditions. Most […]
Rain in the past week ranged from 25 to 100 mm across the region. The upper valley and the far east of the region received the most. During the month of May the region accumulated roughly 450 Crop Heat Units (CHUs) or about 20 CHUs above the 30 year average. Precipitation was extremely variable across […]
Synopsis: Rain has been welcome especially further south, where it was very dry. Up to one inch of rain was reported. Hopefully, all the dry areas receive rain this week. Spraying will start in earnest as soon as the rain stops. Further north things are wet and not all field work is complete. Some severe ponding and significant soil erosion in hardest […]
Synopsis: DRY! Excellent planting progress with corn finished and beans ranging 70% +. Small % corn seedlings showing abnormal/poor germ. Soil conditions EXTREMELY poor on heavy clays with excessive April rain (Lambton, Elgin). Excellent tillage discussion, with divergent viewpoints. Disappointment with uptake of proper burndown herbicide combinations in light of glyphosate resistant weeds. Advanced wheat […]