CROP ADVISOR’S SOLUTION SOLVED – A COLOURFUL PROBLEM
Don’s canola was a disappointing finish to what looked like a great start. At the end of August, he called with a concern about disease. The pods had begun to ripen prematurely.
The tops of the pods seemed to be coming in purple, while the stems were yellow, but the bottom pods were still green and immature. The nutrients in Don’s soil and his fertilizer application seemed to be on the mark. As we viewed the canola from the road, we realized the crop was showing the most pervasive purple hue in the hilltops and south-facing slopes.
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“You know,” Don said, as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, “it has been hotter than blazes in the last week. Now that I think about it, I noticed a couple of fields with just the same problem on my way into town a few days ago.”
I nodded and realized we were on the same page. I made a call to my contact at the Canola Council, who quickly confirmed our hunch. We were looking at extreme sunburn on his canola, thanks to the heat blast of continuous 32C in the last week. Canola attempts to protect itself from extreme heat by purpling.
The good news was that while the pod colour change was somewhat extreme in Don’s sunburned canola, there will be little reduction to the crop’s yield if swathed at the proper time. Don should wait to swath until the colour change is at about 60 per cent. Of course, he should try to swath early in the morning so the dew will keep his pods from shattering, or at the very least, in the evening.
In fact, I just received a call from Don who just finished swathing his canola with minimal damage. It’s now curing as expected and we’ll wait to see what his yield is. It’s the best ending we could have hoped for. Of course there’s nothing we can do about the weather, but it’s important to keep up with information. If Don had panicked and decided to swath before he reached the magical 60 per cent colour change, he really could have ruined his chances. Stay in the know and if you don’t, get in touch with your local agronomist. That’s why we’re here!
Tracey Burnack is a sales agronomist for Richardson International at Legacy Junction, Alta.
CROP ADVISOR’S CASEBOOK OUT-OF-CONTROL FOXTAIL BARLEY
Darcy farms about 5,500 acres southwest of Brandon. He focuses on red spring wheat, winter wheat, canola, field peas and corn. He’s had a problem with foxtail barley, as have a growing number of producers in the Brandon area.
In the past three years, we’ve seen this pesky weed increase. Pre-seed burnoff has been moderately effective but regrowth by harvest has forced producers to address this same problem several times within the season.
Darcy and I have been working with our area marketing representative Scott Walker since the fall of 2008 and we’ve made several visits to his farm over the year.
“It’s just not enough,” Darcy said last fall. “The pre-season and post-harvest glyphosate applications I’m doing just aren’t cutting it. I’m worried about the yield loss I’m facing this year. I need control of this stuff all season long.”
We could understand his frustration. Up until three years ago, foxtail barley was limited to low-lying or high-salinity areas. At first, we always suggested increasing glyphosate rates. But higher gylphosate applications only offered moderate improvement. In fact, without effective control options, the areas of issue within the field were expanding, compounding the problem.
Darcy is in a zero-till production system so tillage is just not an option for him. Some growers have attempted to control foxtail barley with discing or cultivating, but again, this only marginally controls the weed and can compound the problem by allowing the weed to spread.
When Scott visited Darcy’s crop last fall, it was clear his problem was expanding. His neighbours were trying all sorts of things, like experimenting with variable rates of herbicides. Summerfallow was a good control option in the past, but that practice is very
uncommon in our area, having been eliminated in most rotations.
In the end, it was obvious the various control measures Darcy was attempting were not providing adequate control. At this point, the battle was clearly being won by foxtail barley.
What do you suggest Darcy do to improve his foxtail barley control? Send your ideas to COUNTRY GUIDE, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7; e-mail [email protected]; or fax 204-947-9136 c/o Krista Simonson.
Correct answers will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a COUNTRY GUIDE cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The correct answer, along with the reasoning which solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor’s Solution File.
