Frequent rains and wet soils across the province have slowed or prevented field work. Soil compaction is likely to be an issue this year, especially for farmers trying to get manure spread ahead of spring planting. Fertilizer has been moving out to farms with storage. Retailers are full and ready to apply product once soil […]
Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYVD) effects a wide range of grass hosts including wheat, oats and barley with oats being considered the most susceptible crop. In some regions of the province, BYDV has been reported as having a significant negative impact on oat yields. Appearance: The primary symptoms of BYDV include stunting and yellowing, reddening […]
The Ontario Corn Committee (OCC), the Ontario Cereal Crops Committee (OCCC), the Ontario Pulse Crop Committee (OPCC), and the Ontario Soybean and Canola Committee (OSACC) launched their new website: GoCrops.ca. The new website brings together the four previous crop committee websites under one cohesive banner. Ontario growers rely on third-party variety performance trial information to […]
Updated: May 18, 2023 With temperatures dipping below zero in much of the province last night, many are wondering what effect this will have on cereal crops. What temperatures will cause injury? Figure 1 shows the various wheat growth stages and when injury is likely to occur to the crop after experiencing cold temperatures for […]
As the wheels have started turning and the spring cereals are going in the ground the question that continues to come up is how much nitrogen (N) should I apply? With spring cereals we know there is a balance between having enough nitrogen to maximize yield potential while avoiding lodging issues. However, OMAFRA’s current nitrogen […]
Over the winter months there has been a quite a bit of discussion around spring cereal yields in Ontario and oat yields in particular. Trendlines for oat yields in Ontario compared to western Canada (Figure 1 and 2) show that while Ontario yields continue to increase, the increase is smaller than for our friends […]
When we think about fungicide applications we naturally think about protection from disease. However, there has been more discussion and reflection about the additional benefits that fungicides may provide including an improvement in overall plant health and harvestability of a crop. This was something that was discussed at the Ontario Cereal Crop Committee (OCCC) table […]
Yield and quality of an oat cover crop was evaluated with and without an application of digestate. The study was conducted in two years on two separate fields. The oats were hand harvested and 3 samples were collected for each of the triplicated treatments. The results were evaluated based on harvested crop value (yield and […]
Farmers wishing to plant oats to increase feed inventories after an early corn silage harvest likely don’t need to worry about atrazine negatively affecting oat establishment and yield. It is not without risk because atrazine dissipation in the soil is slower in dry years and oats are a relatively sensitive species to atrazine. However, given the […]
Over-night temperatures on May 22 to 23 dipped to -2 to -3 oC in many parts of Ontario. Cereal crops are hardy to light frosts. Leaf tissue on plants that have not hardened off will withstand temperatures of -4 oC or lower before the cells will freeze and damage occurs, making late spring frosts of […]