Many farmers are moving into a low disturbance direct seeding system.In their first years of zero till we see some direct seeding "don'ts"quite often; seeding too deep and seed-placing too much fertilizer.
This Spring I set out a number of demonstration plots at Kindersley,Zealandia, Perdue, Rosthern, Prince Albert, Tisdale, Yorkton and Saskatoon.Flexicoil donated the use of a 15 ft. air drill (27 ft drill with the wingsremoved) with their side band stealth opener and a 1330 air cart. At eachsite we seeded the crop at the proper depth and separated the seed andfertilizer then we tried to make mistakes. Seeded too deep, seedplacedtoo much fertilizer, seeded peas too shallow, left inoculant in the sunor never inoculated the pulse or we never used a preseeding Roundup burnoff.
There were a number of tours at these sites over the summer. The mostnoticeable observation was on a wet year it is difficult to make a mistake.When we get 1 to 2 inches of rain following seeding, the nitrogen fertilizeris washed away from the seed row and does not effect germination and shallowseeded pulses have enough moisture to germinate.
Seedplaced fertilizer did cause yellowing of the crop at Perdue, Saskatoonand Kindersley and reduced emergence at Tisdale, Wadena and Yorkton. Delaysin emergence and maturity occurred in the cereal plots that were seededtoo deep. We saw poor emergence of peas at Yorkton when we seeded themat 1 inch and didn't receive a rain for 3 weeks.
The best results occurred where we seeded the cereals at 1.5 inchesdeep with side banded fertilizer. Canola at .5 inches deep with side bandedfertilizer and pulses at 2 inches deep, well inoculated, with side bandedfertilizer.
We hope to be able to continue with these Direct Seeding Do's &Don'ts plots next year. All the sites are well marked. If you see one inyour travels, stop and make your own observations.