One hard-working producer called me last June about his field of canola. His outside round looked great — a thick stand of healthy plants at the three to four leaf stage. The inside of his field was another story. It was sparsely populated with sickly, yellow, mottled, dying plants. Up close, a sharp and clearly defined line seemed to separate the healthy from the dying rounds in the field.
Paul, a producer who farms 6,000 acres of canola, soybeans, wheat, oats, and corn just outside of Landmark, Man., thought the problem was the seed.
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“I don’t think you should offer that seed anymore if it’s not going to grow,” he told me.
With the thought of a possible germination, seeding or weather issue, I started my investigation.
After digging around in Paul’s field and checking weather records, we eliminated damage from frost, moisture, and pests. No other producer had reported problems with that particular seed lot, and by checking the drainage ditches, we determined a deeper or shallower seeding depth had not affected the rate of germination.
The sharp delineation between outside and inside round seemed to indicate a sprayer issue. Paul had done an early burn-off shortly after seeding, but because the outside round looked so good and the line between healthy and unhealthy plants was so pronounced, chemical residue probably wasn’t the issue.
PRODUCTION
What was causing that distinct sharp line we both wondered? Paul and I went over the seeding of that field detail by detail. Paul stopped after the outside round to refill with fertilizer. He had been seeding with 80 pounds an acre of MES 15 fertilizer, which has a lower salt content and contains 13 per cent nitrogen, 33 per cent phosphate and 15 per cent sulphur.
When we double-checked Paul’s records and then our own fertilizer pick-up records, we realized Paul had picked up 21-0-0-24 on that day. Paul had inadvertently switched products when he refilled with fertilizer. Paul did not change the rate of application on his machine, keeping it at 80 pounds per acre, so he was placing 80 pounds of straight sulphur when he only needed one quarter of that total. The higher rate of fertilizer combined with the higher salt content of the 21-0-0-24 damaged the seed.
Every spring producers work flat out. If you’re overworked and you’ve got another calculation to do, bounce the numbers off someone else. Even if you’ve done it a thousand times before, it doesn’t hurt to ask another person if the rate is correct.
It is good practice to keep meticulous records and documentation. Without these records, we may never have solved the problem in Paul’s field.
Having a good agronomist in your camp gives you someone to bounce ideas and calculations off of, and it will increase your rate of success. Remember, there are no stupid questions.
Terry Moyer is an agronomist at Richardson International in Landmark, Man.
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Note Crop Adviser Is Moving To Grainews,STARTING OCTOBER 20Th
