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 check stand emergence 10-14 days…

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 and pastures were damaged and…

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 in both Essex and Niagara,…

Planting is 70 % complete in West – Central Ontario. Early April planted fields are in cotyledon to 1st leaf stage with good emergence. Timely rainfall received in most areas will help even emergence of later planted stands. Emergence is occurring in 10 to 14 days under cold soil temperature conditions. Pay attention to 1000 kernel seed weight (grams per…

Synopsis: The majority of spring cereals crop have been planted. Acres of spring cereals is higher with good planting conditions, potential returns, lower input costs.  Acres of seeded forage and nurse crops is 10-15% higher (Bill Brown). Emergence has been excellent. Advanced wheat wheat now pushing GS32-33, but in most fields, 1st node not visible. Corn planting ranges from 5-30% across…

Included: Tillage, soil management, cold water imbibition, wheat, double crop soys, wild weeds, insects, other. Synopsis: DRY! Sugar beets planted shallow in late March still have not had enough rain for germination.  Wind erosion has been a major issue this spring with more tillage and dry soils.  Across this region 5 to 30% of the corn is planted, with only a…

Planting is 40% complete in the west-central region of Ontario. Early April seeded canola is 10-50% emerged. Cold temperatures with sub-zero nights has slowed emergence and delayed seeding.Soil conditions have been excellent for field work although windy and dry weather is resulting in rapid drying of soils.  If soils are dry and loose, level and pack as part of tillage…

Synopsis:  Field work continues with many areas reporting dry conditions.  High winds yesterday moved a tremendous amount of soil.  Pictures below are from Bruce county in fields where there was no tillage equipment being operated at the time the pictures were taken.  This kind of wind erosion has not been seen in Ontario for many years: a stark reminder of…

Included: crop status, wheat, glyphosate resitant weeds (status and control), weed control update (Peter Sikkema). Synopsis: Very little corn planted as of April 10th. Many growers will start this week. A few “experimental” soybeans have been planted. The wheat in this region looks tough, with too many areas suffering from wet feet.  Considerable spring grain planted into wheat fields where growers…

Synopsis: The majority of spring cereals crop have been planted. In eastern Ontario about 60% of  spring wheat has been seeded.  The early spring has allowed for a lot of field work and manure application to occur in good soil conditions. The majority of winter wheat has received some nitrogen, with many growers opting to split apply. The consensus was that…

GENERAL: The relatively mild winter and early start to the spring season means that there will be a re-evaluation of many “normal” practices.  Early break of dormancy for forage, wheat and tree crops, opportunity for early application (or split application) of nitrogen to wheat crops, germination of many weeds, and more tillage than previous years are some of the observations/activities…

SYNOPSIS:  The early spring has given good opportunity for fieldwork operations.  Most of the spring cereals and direct seeded alfalfa are planted, and manure applications have been made on excellent soil conditions.  Not all soils are dry; growers should be cautioned to watch soil moisture conditions. The hard frost Monday March 30th (as low as -12 at ground) had significant impacts…