This week’s topics:

• Top 10 things to consider when scouting for insects

• Insect update

• What Swede midge damage looks like

• Scouting now for disease

• Try the new Spray-to-Swath tool

• Coming events

The post Canola Watch for this week appeared first on Farmtario.

Label application windows:

Glyphosate: Anytime up to and including the 6-leaf stage of canola.
Liberty: Cotyledon stage up to the early bolting stage of canola.
Odyssey/Absolute: 2- to 6-leaf stage of canola.

Herbicides applied after the approved crop stage could cause early flowers to be aborted. Click here to learn how. Growers are advised to assess what will create the greater losses — weed competition or loss of the first set of flowers? Canola typically produces more flowers than it can support. The plant can produce more flowers to compensate for early flowers that were lost, provided stress later in the flowering period does not limit this ability.

Aerial application may be required to spray within the application window if fields are too wet for the ground rig. Avoiding ruts is an additional benefit. Click here for aerial spraying tips. Note that Centurion has received emergency registration for aerial application on canola for 2012. For more information, click your province for a link to your guide to crop protection: Alberta SaskatchewanManitoba

Minimize ruts with ground rigs. If you plan to use the field sprayer, wider tires and lower tire pressures can improve sprayer flotation and reduce rut depth. If the operator doesn’t have time to switch tires, make ruts parallel with the intended direction of travel for the swather and combine so growers can keep up their harvest speed.

For more canola production issues visit www.canolawatch.org

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The CPT 2011 represents the next generation in variety evaluation for Western Canadian canola growers, providing science-based, unbiased and timely performance data that reflects actual production practices, as well as comparative data on leading varieties and newly introduced varieties.

The three Prairie canola grower groups — the Alberta Canola Producers Commission, the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission (SaskCanola) and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association — fund the program. Seed trade companies that participated paid entry fees. The B.C. Grain Producers Association conducted trials in the Peace as their means of participation.

Participants in the small plot trials consisted of line companies, independent retailers and seed companies including Viterra, Bayer CropScience, Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences, Cargill, Canterra Seeds, BrettYoung Seeds, FP Genetics and SeCan. The CPT 2011 includes results from 23 small plots. Monsanto, Bayer CropScience, Canterra Seeds and Dow AgroSciences also participated in a total of 108 audited field-scale trials.

Results are organized by short-, medium- and long-season zones.

The results booklet is available alongside online at canolaperformancetrials.ca. The three Prairie grower groups will be posting it as well. In January, an online selection tool will be available at the same website, highlighting the contribution margin calculator. A printed booklet version of the results will be available shortly at Prairie ag retail outlets.

Haplotech (led by Dr. Rale Gjuric) coordinated the trials under the guidance of a governance committee that oversaw approval of varieties, protocol design, data collection, analysis and reporting, and financial management.

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“We’re getting regular reports this month from growers who have lost whole bins to heating. Some have lost multiple bins,” says Jim Bessel, Canola Council of Canada senior agronomy specialist in Saskatchewan. “Periods of warm weather the past couple of weeks may lead to greater instability and potential for heating damage. And since a lot of canola went into storage with high moisture or high green counts, this increases the likelihood of spoilage.”

All canola bins and bulk storage bags should be checked. While lower grade canola is at higher risk, all canola — including No.1 canola that went into the bin dry and cool — has potential to spoil. 

Checking bins requires a physical transfer of canola from one bin to another. “Hand probing through doors or roof hatches is unreliable for finding hot spots near the core of the bin,”  Bessel says. “A good rule is to move one third of the canola out of a full bin. But if green counts are high or you have a sense that the bin is at risk, transfer the whole bin.”

Feel and smell the canola as it comes out of the bin. If the bin does not have temperature-sensing cables, this is probably the only effective way to check for heating, Bessel says.

If canola has started to spoil, start looking for delivery options. Growers looking at locking in delivery contracts should make sure spoilage has not already resulted in a reduced grade. 

There’s an old expression in the canola business — “Sell it or smell it.” That expression has proven accurate for many growers this year.  For a list of companies that buy green canola, click here. 

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Sclerotinia stem rot infestations are high in many canola-growing areas the summer, and the disease will continue to advance even after the crop is swathed.

“Sclerotinia is showing up like gangbusters” in northeastern Alberta, according to Doug Moisey, the Canola Council of Canada’s senior agronomy specialist for the region.

Alternaria has also been reported, said Moisey, who’s based at St. Paul, Alta.

It’s too late for fungicide application, given pre-harvest intervals, but growers still have management decisions to make, the council said in a release this week.

Before harvesting crops with plants ripening prematurely from sclerotinia or alternaria damage on the pods, growers need to assess the damage and decide how best to approach harvest, the council said.

First, walk the crop and assess the level of disease damage. “Two per cent of plants damaged can look like a lot when assessing the field from the road,” Moisey said.

If the number of diseased plants and disease severity are low, don’t alter harvest plans.

If infection rates are high, growers need to determine where most of their yield is. If it’s in the healthy plants, then farmers should make harvest decisions based on what’s best for the healthy plants. That means swathing at 50-60 per cent seed colour change for ideal yield and quality.

If most of the yield is in the infected plants, then earlier swathing, at 30-40 per cent seed colour change, may be more appropriate. But make sure seeds in pods on branches and upper main stems are firm.

Diseased plants will dry down prematurely, which is why swathing earlier is recommended. The sclerotinia fungus may continue to grow on swathed canola if conditions are wet, but seeds that have reached the firm green stage or later should still mature.

When swathing diseased crops, take care using a swath roller, the council said. Lift the roller so it doesn’t pack the windrow too aggressively. This will protect the pods of those damaged and more advanced plants. Also, if weather conditions after swathing remain damp, compacted swaths can hasten development of sclerotinia in the swath.

Canola with severe sclerotinia infection can be very dusty when combined, due to the growth of the sclerotinia fungus as well as other moulds that can attack the decaying plants.

For that reason, the council recommends growers wear appropriate masks when handling severely-diseased canola.

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“The pest situation was at a bit of a lull due to the cooler weather across the Prairies and the dry conditions, particularly in Alberta,” said Jim Bessel, senior agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada in a release Thursday.

Now, however, “the situation is beginning to change and scouting for flea beetles should still be at the top of farmers’ minds right now, especially for delayed or reseeded fields.”

Bessel, who’s based in Saskatoon, notes that normally most flea beetles would be gone due to pre-seed treatments, but slow emergence may have negated some of that.

Canola is most susceptible to flea beetle damage during the cotyledon to two-leaf stage. The economic threshold for flea beetle control is when 25 per cent or more of the cotyledons are damaged. “Scout fields regularly to look for cotyledon damage,” Bessel said.

Other pests

Reports of cutworms are most common in Saskatchewan and Alberta fields that were cultivated last summer and had loose soil for the adults to lay eggs. When larvae are small (12-18 mm), they pose the greatest potential for damage, so that’s when spraying can be effective. But if larvae are near pupating (30-35 mm) and when their gullet lacks green material, they are done feeding. That means spraying will be less effective since control is mostly the result of the pests eating treated leaves.

“There have also been isolated reports of other early season pests like red turnip beetle. It has turned up in northwest Manitoba (in a garden area) and there have been some canola fields infested in the southern Peace region of Alberta,” Bessel said. “Because this insect moves into a field by migrating from a neighboring field that was in canola last year, control usually can be achieved with perimeter spraying.”

The cabbage seedpod weevil has started showing up in southern Alberta and has been moving into southwestern Saskatchewan. The optimum time to spray for this pest is early flowering (10 per cent flower). Spraying after this point may not only result in yield loss, but will also impact beneficial insects that have moved into the field, including pollinators.

Grasshoppers were first starting to hatch last week in Saskatchewan. If the warm weather continues, grasshoppers may become a localized problem.

The post Late-seeded canola draws early-season pests: CCC appeared first on Farmtario.

In Manitoba alone, the Canola Council of Canada reports, growing degree days (GDD) to date range between 40 to 60 per cent of normal and as a result, emergence, growth and development are also lagging.

Emergence is not only slow but in some fields, uneven. Research has shown much lower and slower canola germination at low temperatures, the council noted.

Soil temperatures above 5°C have little effect on the time to 50 per cent germination; however, the number of days to 50 per cent germination increases dramatically at temperatures below 4°C (with germination taking as long as nine days at 3°C or over 12 days at 2°C).

Now is the time to get down and scout to find out what’s happening beneath the soil surface, the council urged. If emergence is patchy, dig around looking for the reason. Is an insect (cutworms, wireworms) interfering? Is it too dry and the seed is still intact? Is the white, healthy hypocotyl making its way through the soil to the surface, albeit slowly?

Seeding

Canola seeding is virtually complete in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the council said, but where soil moisture is adequate for germination, cool temperatures and late-spring frosts are stalling canola growth and development. Emerged fields range from the cotyledon to two- or three-leaf stage.

Where conditions are dry (south and west-central Saskatchewan, southeast-central Alberta), some canola is stranded in dry soil and will require rainfall to stimulate germination.

In Manitoba, meanwhile, seeding is ongoing in parts of the northwest and central regions. About 30 per cent of the early-seeded canola has emerged in these regions. Seeding is nearing completion in the southwest and about 50 per cent of the canola has emerged.

Excess moisture, however, continues to challenge producers in the eastern and Interlake regions. Seeding varies from five to 100 per cent complete and has been focused on fields that will support equipment and the crops with the earliest seeding deadlines (such as June 1 for soybeans) rather than the typical seeding sequence. There are reports of broadcast seeding of canola in Manitoba’s southeast and Interlake.

Patience after frost

Frost was widespread Tuesday morning all across Western Canada, the council noted. Overnight lows were recorded in the neighborhood of 0°C to -2°C with some areas reporting -3°C.

Temperatures in this range are usually labeled a “light frost” and significant crop damage is not expected, but many variables will affect a crop’s ability to withstand frost (duration of the frost, crop staging, crop residue, low-lying areas, crop vigor and so on), so the only way to assess the extent of frost damage is to get out and scout, the council said.

Symptoms of frost will often be noticed within hours, but plant survival cannot be confirmed for several days. Plant material will be wilted and discolored (whitening, yellowing). More severe damage will cause necrosis (browning or blackening) of cotyledons and leaves.

Light frosts are often not lethal to the growing point (top, centre of the stem). This is where all new growth is initiated so if it is still green, the plant can re-grow from this point, the council said.

Therefore, the council advised growers to resist the urge to re-seed immediately after this frost, as recovery may turn out better than expected. Wait at least three to four days to determine if the growing point is still intact and new green growth is visible. The frost may thin the stand only, especially in low-lying areas.

As a guide, a reasonable plant population early in the season is three to four plants per square foot. However, one to two plants per square foot across the majority of a field can be adequate if managed carefully with today’s herbicide-tolerant systems, the council said.

Thin stands such as these can yield up to 90 per cent of a normal stand seeded at an early date but will be later in maturity. Crops reseeded late in the season typically yield less than earlier-seeded crops that had thin stands, the council warns.

For example, one council case study showed a 7.4 bushel per acre advantage when a crop was not reseeded after a frost. It likely will be better to leave a thinner stand, provided it is reasonably uniform, than take the risk of late re-seeding because maturity/early fall frost becomes a concern.

When deciding whether to reseed or seed late, assess the maturity of the chosen variety, the council said. It may be getting too late to plant longer-season varieties based on the frost-free period remaining. If necessary, ask a local retailer to suggest other suitable varieties for the area.

Also, keep crop insurance deadlines in mind, the council said. The crop insurance seeding deadline for Saskatchewan is June 20. In Alberta, deadlines are May 31 for full coverage and June 20 for limited coverage. Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp., meanwhile, has indicated that no extensions to seeding deadlines will be announced.

Broadcasting tips, if needed

The continued delay in seeding progress due to wet weather in Manitoba has led to many questions regarding the feasibility of broadcast seeding, the council noted. In general, broadcast seeding is not recommended, because it usually results in lower yields compared to drill seeding.

But producers faced with wet conditions that limit equipment flotation, coupled with the risk of fall frost, may wish to consider broadcast seeding in order to plant their seed in a more timely fashion.

Farmers who try broadcasting canola should increase seeding rates slightly to compensate for non-uniform seed depth. Consider lightly cultivating (two to four centimetres) or harrowing to incorporate the seed into the soil if field conditions allow. However, avoid creating lumps or clods during cultivation or straw piles with harrows or cultivators.

If broadcasting fertilizer as well as seed, the council said, be aware that broadcast phosphorus is only about half as efficient as banded phosphorous. There also can be greater risk of denitrification on saturated soils, reducing nitrogen fertilizer efficiency. Adjust fertilizer rates accordingly, the council said, keeping in mind a realistic target yield based on the time of year and field conditions.

And if broadcasting seed by aircraft, the council advised, make sure the seed doesn’t get “blasted” into the ground too deeply, making emergence slow and difficult.

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“Canada’s bulk handling system for canola means that all growers play a role in keeping canola export ready,” Lawson said in a council release Thursday. “Each and every load of canola delivered to the elevator should satisfy the specifications of our key customers”.

Growers who seed deregistered canola varieties are making a decision that puts the entire industry at risk, the council said. International trade is becoming increasingly complex and the specific requirements of Canada’s key export markets are continuously in flux. Therefore, the CCC advises that the following canola varieties should not be seeded this spring:

• Roundup Ready Polish (B. rapa) canola: Hysyn 101 RR
• Bromoxynil-tolerant: 295BX, Cartier BX, Zodiac BX, Renegade BX
• Liberty tolerant: Exceed, 2631 LL, Swallow, SW Legion LL, SW Flare LL, LBD 2393 LL, Innovator, Independence, HCN 14, Phoenix
• Liberty Link hybrids: 3850, 2153, 3640, 3880, 2163, 2273

The recent European Union approval of T45 does not mean varieties containing this genetic event can be grown in Canada, the council emphasized. These varieties are still de-registered.

“The approval of T45 simply means that another export market is now open to Canadian canola but the expectation is that the presence of this event and others in Canadian shipments will continue to decrease over time,” said Lawson, who works in the council’s Winnipeg office. “Remember, if deregistered varieties are discovered, the entire shipment can be rejected and future monitoring will get even tougher.”

Importing countries monitor canola shipments closely and de-registered varieties can be detected, even at very low levels. Using registered varieties is the only way growers can be sure that they are not risking canola markets, the council said.

Many grain companies are no longer accepting delivery of deregistered products. Growers who have canola seed of deregistered varieties should contact their grain company before attempting to deliver.

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