CCC agronomy specialists have a new project for 2013 — the Ultimate Canola Challenge (UCC). The underlying challenge is to follow all best management practices (BMPs) to see how canola yields when you “do everything right.” Additional treatments — such as boron — will be evaluated to see if they provide an improvement in yield, quality, maturity and return on…
Plant establishment
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A dry summer and fall in certain areas of the Prairies created a high risk situation for herbicide carryover this spring. High spring moisture from increased snow fall will not help much because microbial activity does not occur, no matter the soil moisture level, until soil temperatures are 5°C and then only increase marginally until soils are warm. If little…
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Seeding earlier increases the chance of a killing frost on seedlings but it also limits the chance of heat stress in summer. When seeding early, take steps to improve crop establishment by seeding shallow, aiming for at least 7 plants per square foot, and using seed-placed phosphate for faster pop up. If weeds are emerging and growers plan to wait…
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Give the brand new online Canola Diagnostic Tool a pre-season test drive at www.canoladiagnostictool.ca. Start with a problem scenario that you encountered in a canola field in 2012, and work through the tool to see what potential causes it provides. Read the cause descriptions and “ways to confirm” to determine which cause is most likely…
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On average, only 40-60% of canola seeds put in the ground actually survives to become plants. To improve this rate and get more from the seed investment, seed shallow and at the same depth row to row, slow down to improve seed placement, limit seed-placed fertilizer, penetrate trash, leave a firm seedbed, and pack appropriately…
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Here is a list of labs that service canola growers in Canada. Labs are organized under the following headings: Soil nutrient analysis, Plant tissue nutrient analysis, Seed quality tests, Disease diagnostic on plant tissue, Soil analysis for clubroot, Herbicide resistant test for weeds, Herbicide carryover in soil, and Pesticide residue in plant tissue…
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