Tough canola stored over the winter is a priority for drying now that temperatures are warming up. Note however that natural air drying (using aeration fans without supplemental heat) will provide very slow drying on cool days. Even the recent three or four days with highs near 20°C might not have been enough to completely dry the grain, and now cooler weather is coming. The typical recommendation would be to leave fans running until the conditioning process is complete, but with such a long stretch of cool weather, that could equate to a lot of electricity use with little drying to show for it. Before stopping operations completely, cool the bulk back down again by running the fans over some cool nights. Otherwise this half-dried and now warmer grain could start to spoil within days. Compare natural air drying to supplement heat and dryer systems.
Home / Canola Watch / Canola stored tough is still not dry
Related Articles
Tough or damp canola: Storage risk
Canola harvested at 12.5% moisture (tough) or 15% moisture (damp) may not last long in storage before spoilage begins. How long is hard to predict. If warm, spoilage could start…
Tips for drying tough and damp canola
For long-term storage of canola, the ideal is 8% moisture and less than 15°C. Spoilage risk is high for tough and damp canola. Canola is considered “tough” at moisture levels…
Conditioning tips for stored canola
Ideally, growers will want to put canola on aeration as soon as it comes off the field. Cooling hot grain within the first 24 hours is important for safe long-term…
Conditioning tips for stored canola
Ideally, growers will want to put canola on aeration as soon as it comes off the field. Cooling hot grain within the first 24 hours is important for safe long-term…