What's the weirdest colour you've ever seen a crop turn? This week in Ontario, at least one farmer is reporting very dark straw where the wheat crop was touched by frost in late May. An agronomist also reports purple stems in another area. What the heck is happening here? Never fear, as Peter "Wheat Pete"... Read More
Category: Agronomy
Grain growers are reporting that bluegrass is becoming a growing weedy issue in many Ontario field crops. There are three types of weedy bluegrass species that are being found: annual bluegrass, rough-stalk bluegrass, and Canada bluegrass. As Mike Cowbrough, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist explains in this Wheat School episode,... Read More
Cabbage seedpod weevil can cause considerable yield loss to a canola and other brassica crops, such as mustard. As adults, the pest is three to four millimetres in length, is ash-grey in colour, and has a prominent curved snout, similar to other weevils. Meghan Vankosky, field crop entomologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Saskatoon, joins... Read More
What if corn, like soybeans, could fix its own nitrogen? It's a question agronomist Dale Cowan and his team at AGRIS Co-operative are tackling this summer as they test a biological product that promises to help corn plants fix nitrogen, when applied directly on the seed, in pop-up fertilizer, and through foliar application between the... Read More
Some Ontario edible bean and soybean fields are being hard hit by root rots, causing large patches of dead, dying, or highly stressed plants. The recent hard rains in some areas of the province have favoured root rot infection. Depressions or areas of high compaction or poor drainage tend to show the worst symptoms. Poor... Read More
Wheat harvest is 10 days earlier for many Ontario wheat growers, and that opens a window of opportunity to plant double crop soybeans. But that window will close quickly. When it comes to double cropping success, there are plenty of best management practices to consider. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist... Read More
Normally a week or so behind the winter barley crop, Ontario farmers are nosing into the wheat harvest a little early as the two crops are ready at about the same time. From an aphid alert on soybeans, to sneaky root rots, and potash deficiency showing up in corn, Peter "Wheat Pete" Johnson has the... Read More
Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization is an important step in seeding a wheat crop and getting it off to the right start. However, over time fertilizer placed at the same depth can cause soil acidification. Initially set up in 1967, with various rotations and fertility treatments, long-term research plots were the basis for interesting research results... Read More
It's been dry in parts of Western Canada heading into canola flowering, but has it been dry enough to hold off on spraying for sclerotinia? That's a question many growers and agronomists in drought-affected areas have been asking themselves over the last week or two. There are really two basic factors to consider in the... Read More
Environmental conditions this year are certainly conducive to grasshopper population growth, and some areas of the Prairies are finding this pest a major cause for concern. Dr. James Tansey, provincial entomologist for Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, joins host Shaun Haney in this episode of the Pests & Predators Podcast, to chat about the common species... Read More