A collective summary of information gleaned from the weekly breakfast meeting minutes with local crop consultants in Ontario
Chair for this meeting was Steve Johns. Chair for next meeting will be Eric Richter. Synopsis: Considerable spring cereal acreage has now been seeded, although not as much as intended. Hopefully the weather stays dry so that growers can finish up with cereals this week. Some oat fields have now been seeded for over 10 days. A […]
Synopsis: April 1 to April 20 at Simcoe 102 CHU have been accumulated and average temperature was 7.5o C . Official CHU recording begins May 1st. 39.9 mm of precipitation fell as rain and/or snow. Crops that have been planted into plastic are being protected against forecast snow and freezing temperatures. Cool conditions over past […]
Synopsis: Rainfall across the region was variable 0.3” in Essex, 0.7” to 1” in Chatham-Kent, 0.3” to 0.5” in South Lambton, Elgin and the rest of Lambton about 1”. A small amount of corn went in on the weekend; most are planning to start planting around the 25th. Some spring cereals were seeded on the […]
Synopsis: Winter wheat survival has been good in most areas. Nitrogen application varies between 30-40% up to 70-90% in areas to the south. Lots of intentions to apply red clover into wheat, but single cut clover seed is in short supply. Spring cereal planting is 25-40% complete. Agricorp reports only 200 winter wheat damage reports, […]
Conditions: Moderate temperatures at the end of winter, combined with limited precipitation minimized spring water runoff and soil erosion. Soil is drying slowly, allowing for only limited field activity to date. Alfalfa: Winter survival generally looks excellent. Alfalfa has 1 to 2 inches of new growth at this point and is showing no sign of […]
April 14, 2015 Malibu Restaurant, Exeter Chair for this meeting was David Townsend. Chair for next meeting is Steve Johns. The meeting on May 12 will be chaired by Eric Richter. There was an excellent turnout to the first meeting of the 2015 growing season. Thank you to all those who attended and participated in […]
Synopsis: Very little field work has been done to date. There is still frost in the ground below 4” especially where there are significant crop residues present. The snow melted without any significant rainfall so there was very little ponding of water on wheat and very little freeze thaw. 50 to 75% of the unseeded […]
Conditions: Crop Heat Units from the May 1st are right about the 30 year normal. Winter wheat: In the case of highly uneven fields, spraying is recommended when about 25% of heads are emerged for 5 days (and head past ligule). The idea is that the first 25% are probably the better heads anyways and […]
The next meeting will be held at the Huron Research Station. Breakfast will be provided at 7 am. There will be a short tour (1 hour). Please bring any suggestions for future research that should be conducted. Synopsis: Considerable field work was possible over the weekend and Monday, especially further south where they were further […]
May 1 to June 4Norfolk/Haldimand/Niagara 2014 2013 Rainfall + 120 mm + 85 mm Crop Heat Units ~ 440 ~ 520 Growing Degree Days ~ 295 ~335 Some field work on the weekend ended with another dose of precipitation June 2. Highly variable, most areas received between 5 and 25 mm; with the lower amounts […]
Synopsis: Finally significant planting progress in corn and soybeans! Rainfall over the last two weeks varied from 0.5” to 3”. Early corn is at 4 to 5 leaf stage while the majority of the corn is emerging to 2 leaves. The most advanced wheat is heading. Weed control is becoming the order of the day. […]
Synopsis: Rainfall Monday evening-Tues varied between 0- 1.25 cm(0.5″). Excellent progress in planting and field work in past week. Clay soils have gone from being too wet, to hard and dry in surface layer. Corn and canola planting is essentially complete, soybean planting ranges from 50-90% complete, edible bean planting has started. Some growers waiting on rain […]
An uncommon scene the morning of May 21 was ponded water in fields of the Norfolk sand plain, where soils have saturated hydraulic conductivity in excess of 9 cm per hour. Some areas including north Oxford received more than 2.5” of rainfall May 20-21; many areas (Niagara, west Elgin) received just under 1”. Patience waiting for […]
SYNOPSIS: Wet, wet, wet ! Most areas are struggling to get more than a couple of dry days for field work. Cool temperatures and frequent showers are forcing many to do field work 1-2 days before fields are fit. Corn planting is about 40%-50% complete across the region. Wheat damage claim calls have diminished, although […]
Synopsis: FRUSTRATING! Very little progress over the past 2 weeks. 3″ plus rainfall. South-west estimate 10-15% corn planted, 2% soybeans. Early corn is 1-2 leaf. Many growers will not switch corn hybrids: they will switch to soys. Sulphur deficiency is obvious in some wheat fields. Manganese deficiency in the odd field: but less prevalent with current […]