Return to Canola Council Home
What is the goal with a pre-harvest application? If weed control is the goal, assess the weed situation before spraying. If desiccation (crop and weed dry-down) is the goal for straight combining, this decision should wait until just before harvest. Here are the pre-harvest options for canola…
Harvest timing
-
-
Crop with a heavy lean may require some trial and error to test the best angle of attack. Some operators will prefer going perpendicular to the lean; some will prefer going into the lean. With straight cutting, you can go whatever direction works best for crop flow…
-
Leaving canola to ripen naturally can work well for straight combining and it saves the extra pass and cost of pre-harvest applications. But canola left to ripen naturally will have somewhat tougher and greener plant material than a swathed crop would, even when seeds are cured and ready to combine… -
Pod splitting or pod drop due to tissue damage from the heavy frost usually starts within a day after the frost event. If the canola crop is still sound after that time, growers can probably stick with original plan – whether that be swathing at 60% seed colour change or straight combining… -
Straight-combining canola can be made easier with a pre-harvest herbicide. Here are the options: glyphosate, Heat LQ/glyphosate and Reglone (diquat)…
-
Here are factors that create the ideal situation for straight combining canola… -
Frost provides some natural desiccation that may help dry weeds and green stems in fields left for straight combining. Some growers actually wait for frost before combining, using it as a tool to aid in crop dry down — but this may not be advised if the field is ready and no frost is forecast…
-
Harvest delays due to soggy soils, frequent rains and even mist have canola growers wondering about risk to the crop and what, if anything, they can do reduce these risks. Really, the only approach is to wait out the weather. When fields are able to support the swather, decide then whether the staging suits swathing or straight combining. This article…
-
Glyphosate: Apply when the majority of seeds are yellow to brown in colour and “average” seed moisture had dried down to less than 30%. Heat plus glyphosate: Apply at 70% or more seed colour change. Reglone: Apply when at least 90% of seeds on the whole plant are brown…
