When he seeded 800 acres of land to winter wheat last summer, Jim Chernick was focused on a cover crop to hold his soil in place. Today, he’s surprised at the good quality stand of red wheat growing on the same fields that were saturated just 12 months ago.
Part of Chernick’s land had been chemical fallowed in 2003 and did not get seeded in the spring of 2004 because of wet conditions. Chernick calls it “double fallow” and said he doesn’t recommend it to anyone.
“There was virtually no stubble last summer at this time,” recalled the Rouleau, Sask., farmer. “My biggest concern was to get a cover crop on those fields so they wouldn’t blow in the winter. Getting a decent crop out of the deal was a distant thought, really.
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“Initially, I was going to simply throw on a half bushel of barley for cover. Then I decided to put a few more dollars on the table for some winter wheat seed. Right now, I’d say it’s paying off. The market price for winter wheat today is only $2.20 a bushel, but I have so little money invested in this crop. And it’s looking very good.”
The novice winter wheat grower seeded the 800 acres Aug. 15-22, putting down two bushels to the acre of bin-run Clare at $4.25 per bu.
“I liked the idea that I got 800 acres out of the way and it didn’t interfere with other field work.”
The weeds got two doses of Rustler at a little less than full rate. At the time of seeding, he put on 50 lb. of 11-55-0. Because there was no stubble cover and he didn’t want to risk crop damage going into the winter, the fields received no fall herbicide.
Most of the land got a good, heavy snowfall that stayed in place through the winter. He said the winter wheat didn’t really stand up as a snowfence, but it did prevent the soil from blowing and it seemed to hold at least 2.5 centimetres of snow.
This spring, he gave the crop a little squirt of Refine at a cost of $5 per acre. He top dressed with 80 lb. of granular 34-0-0.
Looking at those fields June 29, Chernick said, “I should have put on double the nitrogen. The crop is just sucking up all that moisture. It could easily use twice as much N.
“Everything survived beautifully. There’s a few low spots that got flooded out this spring, but everything else looks like a million bucks.
“We had one long bare stretch about 100 feet out from a municipal road. The wind took all the snow. It was totally bare in mid-February, so I figured those acres were a writeoff. But they all pulled through. You can’t even tell where the bare stretch was.”
Chernick said there is one major problem to growing winter wheat. He knew that seeding into bare soil was chancy. It is not recommended for most of the Prairies. And, although his investment in the project was small going into the winter, he couldn’t help but worry.
“I used to relax in the winter months. I’d just chill out. But last winter I was fretting all the time, worrying about snow cover. That was a waste of my energy. The winter wheat is tough. It can take a lot of abuse. So from now on, I’m not going to waste my energy fretting about it. The crop looks after itself very well.”
Chernick doubts that winter wheat always performs this well.
“I suspect we were just lucky. But I’m sure convinced winter wheat has a place on our farm. And after seeing the crop this spring, Dad is a convert, too. We’re planning on seeding 550 acres next month. We’re getting Osprey, a (Canadian Wheat Board) milling variety. Only this time we’re not taking chances. We’re putting it into standing stubble.”
