Not quite as humorous as the old SNL bits but good enough for a stormy Feb 29th.
*Other than planter settings, seed size does not really effect yield. Yes, if your planter is throwing out a lot of doubles or skips, you yield will be impacted but if everything is working perfectly with a small round or a large flat, there is no difference. Theoretically, a larger seed may provide extra starch reserves for a seedling in wet cool weather, or a smaller seed may germinate faster than a larger seed in dry weather due to a thinner seed coat but there has never been any consecutive studies with a statistical yield difference to prove it.
*I can't tell you how many times I have heard "but it's a leap year you know" when referring to the upcoming growing season. OK, so 1992 was a leap year too, but 2009 and 2011 weren't so maybe we'll luck out with this one.
*How early is too early to get things started in the field? The next time the fields are bare, it's a great time to get some clover down on the wheat or to try frost seeding spring grains if the field is fit. Hold off on Nitrogen on the wheat starts to green up and can actually use it. As for corn, the risk of frost damaging corn planted after April 15th is relatively low compared to the potential yield increase for planting full season hybrids early. Soys can be planted anytime after the 20th of April if the conditions are right.
*Did you know that if you compare applications of 5000gal/ac of Hog finisher manure in Aug compared to Nov; there is 53lb/ac more of N available for the following years corn crop? At $0.70/lb N that is a $37/ac savings in fertilizer if you can hold off on the application till the late fall. Try out your manure numbers on the Ontario manure calculator at www.gocorn.net.
*We cleaned up our act too much! With all the clean air initiatives, we are no longer seeing sulphur being deposited on our fields by acid rain. It used to be that we saw up to 30lb/ac a year deposited, now we are lucky to get 10lb/ac. Under the wet conditions of last year, sulphur deficiency was showing in the wheat crop. This year, there will be lots of experimenting with mixing ammonium sulphate with urea, and ammonium thiosulphate with their 28%. Watch for results this fall.
Enough randomness, Jack Handy would be proud.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Starter Considerations
Let's face it, we in Ontario are in a bind. With the higher fertilizer prices and bigger yeilds over the last few years we are on average taking more P&K out of our soils than we are putting back in. If you did any soil sampling last fall, you may have had a shock when you looked at the results. Province wide, 31% of soil tests are critical for P and 49% are critical for K. We've spent the savings, now it's time to start making some deposits again.
So how do we do that in an economical way? With less fields having an available source of livestock manure, it is expected that we will see a decline in values and a shift to the sufficiancy fertilizer program rather than the build and maintain program of past years. The problem is, to simply broadcast sufficiancy amounts of P&K on critical level soils, you are probably not going to see an economic response. A starter fertilizer needs to be placed for the seedling to use it, and K included if levels are low. The remainder of the fertilizer needed can be broadcasted.
In the last few years, Greg Stewart has done a fair bit of research on critical testing soils (>12 PPM P and >120 PPM K). You can google his research online, but to sum it up - at P&K soil test levels, a granular P&K blend of something like 5-20-20 at 200lb/ac in a 2x2 band is going to give you the biggest yield increase. Followed by 75lb/ac Map only or 5 gal 6-24-6.
Take it a step further and start considering pH and Zinc levels. If your pH is high, the addition of Zinc Sulphate into your dry starter will lower the pH in the band. By lowering the pH, the phosphorous will become more available to the seedling and the micronutrient Zinc will be more available in the band than broadcast. You can also add Zinc to your 6-24-6, however, make sure it is compatible prior to mixing. Also, liquid zinc is more expensive than the dry.
It's Feb 27th - who knows, we could be planting corn in a month and you'll need to have your starter ready! Stranger things have happened.
So how do we do that in an economical way? With less fields having an available source of livestock manure, it is expected that we will see a decline in values and a shift to the sufficiancy fertilizer program rather than the build and maintain program of past years. The problem is, to simply broadcast sufficiancy amounts of P&K on critical level soils, you are probably not going to see an economic response. A starter fertilizer needs to be placed for the seedling to use it, and K included if levels are low. The remainder of the fertilizer needed can be broadcasted.
In the last few years, Greg Stewart has done a fair bit of research on critical testing soils (>12 PPM P and >120 PPM K). You can google his research online, but to sum it up - at P&K soil test levels, a granular P&K blend of something like 5-20-20 at 200lb/ac in a 2x2 band is going to give you the biggest yield increase. Followed by 75lb/ac Map only or 5 gal 6-24-6.
Take it a step further and start considering pH and Zinc levels. If your pH is high, the addition of Zinc Sulphate into your dry starter will lower the pH in the band. By lowering the pH, the phosphorous will become more available to the seedling and the micronutrient Zinc will be more available in the band than broadcast. You can also add Zinc to your 6-24-6, however, make sure it is compatible prior to mixing. Also, liquid zinc is more expensive than the dry.
It's Feb 27th - who knows, we could be planting corn in a month and you'll need to have your starter ready! Stranger things have happened.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A First for Everything
So today was a first for me. It is the first time that I have scouted fields in February. Normally, we have about 3 feet of snow on the ground and I don't even think about going out there until at least the end of March. However, there's no snow to be found, the frost made it easy to walk over the fields and I needed to see if it is worth it to spread clover on the November planted wheat.
I started at the worst looking field and meandered my way to the best. Here is what I saw:
November 5th soft red wheat no tilled into soy stubble. Not bad, it's there. Did not find any tillers but they could still come with this weather. The only heaving was found in very wet areas. You'll notice in the picture below that not only the wheat heaved but so did what was left of the soy bean plant. The stubble will heave first as it's roots are dead and brittle but it is a good indicator to slow down and look at the wheat when you see this happening in the field.
Onto the next field: November 4th soft red wheat into a pulled bean field that was cultivated first and seeded a day later.
Wow! What a difference the cultivation made - one day to dry out and warm up the soil. Although there are no tillers yet, this field is looking good!
Next field: October 12 soft white wheat no tilled into pulled bean stubble. No major problems here other than the odd wet spot with a little bit of heaving.
And finally, here is it is. September 18th soft white wheat, notilled into pulled bean stubble. A rarity for this part of the province for sure.
I wish that there was more of these fields around here! No heaving found even in the very wet spots. The root system of the seedling is strong and big enough to keep it in the ground.
Anyways, it is February so what am I going to do with my findings? The first field is scheduled to get red clover will probably get it in the next few weeks if the ground stays bare. I think that all the wheat will continue to improve as long as we don't get a soaking rain and then a stretch of very cold weather. I've also got a good idea of what fields are good candidates for a split application of N but won't be doing anything on that for a bit yet. For those of you out there that are thinking of applying N on the wheat now - DON"T DO IT YET!. The wheat is only going to use the N if it is growing and we are not there yet, not even close.
Now I'm going to go put my feet on the heater and drink something hot, I'm glad that scouting doesn't happen every February 'cause it's cold out there!
I started at the worst looking field and meandered my way to the best. Here is what I saw:
November 5th soft red wheat no tilled into soy stubble. Not bad, it's there. Did not find any tillers but they could still come with this weather. The only heaving was found in very wet areas. You'll notice in the picture below that not only the wheat heaved but so did what was left of the soy bean plant. The stubble will heave first as it's roots are dead and brittle but it is a good indicator to slow down and look at the wheat when you see this happening in the field.
Onto the next field: November 4th soft red wheat into a pulled bean field that was cultivated first and seeded a day later.
Wow! What a difference the cultivation made - one day to dry out and warm up the soil. Although there are no tillers yet, this field is looking good!
Next field: October 12 soft white wheat no tilled into pulled bean stubble. No major problems here other than the odd wet spot with a little bit of heaving.
And finally, here is it is. September 18th soft white wheat, notilled into pulled bean stubble. A rarity for this part of the province for sure.
I wish that there was more of these fields around here! No heaving found even in the very wet spots. The root system of the seedling is strong and big enough to keep it in the ground.
Anyways, it is February so what am I going to do with my findings? The first field is scheduled to get red clover will probably get it in the next few weeks if the ground stays bare. I think that all the wheat will continue to improve as long as we don't get a soaking rain and then a stretch of very cold weather. I've also got a good idea of what fields are good candidates for a split application of N but won't be doing anything on that for a bit yet. For those of you out there that are thinking of applying N on the wheat now - DON"T DO IT YET!. The wheat is only going to use the N if it is growing and we are not there yet, not even close.
Now I'm going to go put my feet on the heater and drink something hot, I'm glad that scouting doesn't happen every February 'cause it's cold out there!
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