Yahoo, it's finally raining!!! Until Monday, June 26, we had had 0.5" of rain. That, combined with less than half normal snowfall this winter, contributed to very dry conditions. The wheat, peas and flax were seeded into moisture but by the time the canola was seeded, the ever-present winds had sucked up most of the moisture. The emergence of the wheat, peas and flax was good. The canola emergence is very spotty - nothing a good rain wouldn't fix! Thankfully, in the past couple of days, rainfalls are approaching another 1".
Our precision farming project is underway. The field was seeded May 30 to June 1 with 2663 InVigor canola. The field has been subdivided into four plots, as shown in Figure 1 below, and the fertilizer rates varied based on wet versus dry season recommendations and landscape. We varied the rates of both the granular and liquid fertilizer (thanks to Ag Leader for sending up a monitor that enable us to vary two products). Initially there were some problems with the prescription based on the way that the information from PFRA and our GPS information were merged. It got straightened out (more or less) and applied to the field. It was great!! We drove round and round the field and, as the machinery entered a new "zone," the monitor beeped three times indicating a change in the rate applied. It worked like a charm!! It's the easiest way to seed plots that we have ever used!! Thanks to Ryan Hutchison with Precision Vantage Network and Jason Patterson with PFRA for their help in getting the equipment and technology up and running.
Figure 1. Map delineating fertilizer applications
|
Area |
Fertilizer (in lbs) |
Season |
Slope |
|
1 |
55 N 20 P 13 S |
Wet |
All |
|
2 |
28 N 20 P 7 S |
Wet |
Lower |
|
3 |
83 N 20 P 20 S |
Wet |
Upper |
|
4 |
25 N 10 P 8 S |
Dry |
All |
|
5 |
13 N 10 P 4 S |
Dry |
Upper |
|
6 |
38 N 10 P 12 S |
Dry |
Lower |
The original intent was to also vary the rate of application of herbicides. Unfortunately, due to problems getting sprayer parts in a timely fashion, there was no spring burnoff and in-crop spraying was delayed (we finished June 20). As a result, this crop has heavy weed competition. The growth stage of the weeds varied from cotyledon to bloom. The field was sprayed with full rate Liberty (1.35 L/acre) and half-rate Fusion (10 acres/case). The field will continue to be scouted and another application of Liberty applied in the next 10-14 days if necessary (which seems likely based on weed populations).
The electronic weather station (µMetos, Pessl Instruments) purchased this winter will, in addition to providing detailed weather data, be a valuable tool in predicting incidence of sclerotinia in the canola. There is a computer model contained within the instrument that can predict timing of highest susceptibility of infection (spore release) based on weather data collected. Fungicide application decisions can be made based on the information generated.
There is much discussion this year about the price of fertilizers and the efficacy of starter fertilizer in peas. We split a 50-acre field into three 17-acre plots with different rates of liquid phosphate fertilizer (10-34-0): full recommended rate (25#/ac P), half recommended rate (12.5#/ac P) and no fertilizer (0#/ac P). As nitrogen is a component of the liquid 10-34-0, the plots received 7.3#, 3.7# and 0# N per acre, respectively. Granular inoculant was applied with the Delta pea seed.
The last two fields were seeded to hard red spring wheat (2000 treated AC Elsa and AC Barrie and untreated 2000 produce) and CDC Bethune flax.
Other projects underway this year include demonstration plots of CDC Trilogy wheat (Clearfield variety), AC Cadillac wheat and a new liquid copper product. The summer technicians have developed projects: Denis Mercier will be studying rates and time of application of herbicides to remove an established alfalfa stand and Colleen Smith will be demonstrating the effect of time of cut (early versus late) and application of fertilizer (50# N) on regrowth in the forage plots. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will be studying aster yellows in 25 varieties of canola as well as vegetables and barley.
The CLC hosted 1077 students through the school program this spring. A Girl Guide troup came out and did a program that contributed to earning their conservation badge. Again, thanks to Garry Brad and his associate Maurice Chalifour for a job well done.
A number of tours have been booked for this summer. Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to tour the CLC.
Again, we thank our partners and sponsors for their support. Through their commitment, we can continue to offer a variety of programs.