A collective summary of information gleaned from the weekly breakfast meeting minutes with local crop consultants in Ontario
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 […]
Synopsis: Planting conditions have been excellent with greater than 95 percent of corn and over 75 percent of soybeans planted. Rainfall is needed to activate pre-emerge herbicides and capitalize nitrogen applied to wheat crops after the rains stopped. Alfalfa weevil populations are high and control is recommended in fields where harvest is still over a […]
From May 1st to 12th, accumulations of 15 to 30 mm of rain and 220 Crop Heat Units (CHU) were recorded. The long term average for this same period is about 130 CHU. There was frost on May 14th across eastern Ontario with a low of -2o to -3o C. Little damage expected as the […]
Synopsis: Corn planting is 85% complete, with 10% of soys planted. Wheat has progressed rapidly, with earliest wheat pushing the flag leaf stage: soon beyond herbicide applications. A great deal of sulphur deficiency is showing in wheat. Fortunately frost was a near miss with little damage. Glyphosate resistant weeds have been positively identified in Huron […]
Synopsis: Tremendous activity on the lighter textured soils (south of Hwy 401) with 80% corn planted on lighter soils. Planting on clay soils is just starting. Just a few soybeans planted but many growers gearing up if weather allows. Manganese and sulphur deficiencies are evident in the wheat crop. Advanced wheat is at flag leaf […]
Synopsis: Amazing how so much fieldwork can be accomplished in 1 week of ideal weather. Light textured soils are 90+ % planted for corn, while heavy textured clays of Haldimand and Wentworth are just getting started with about 10% planted; Niagara (Wainfleet area) about 30%. On the Haldimand clays, more beans are planted so far […]
Synopsis: Most nitrogen has now been applied to wheat. Many abandoned plans for split application. Corn planting ranges from 10% – 50% complete. Availability of rental fertilizer spreaders, custom application and accessing of UAN are creating bottlenecks. Growers are beginning to use packers/rollers due to dry soil conditions. Cereals: Much of the winter wheat is now in […]
The area accumulated about 60 Crop Heat Units (CHUs) from 15th to the 30th of April, which is the same as last year for the same period (FarmZone). We received 1.5 to 2 inches (40 to 50 mm) of rain in April. Soils are slow to warm up. To-date only 20% of the spring cereals […]
Synopsis: 30% of wheat acres have had N applied. Yellow/brown/dead(?) wheat in low areas or on heavy soils from twice normal April rainfall. Few acres of corn planted, some spring cereals and new forage seedings. Winter annual weeds have bolted: control will be difficult (impossible). Soybean cyst nematode sampling project in Huron county: more SCN […]