OYEN, Alta. – Figuring out the best way to plant canola in the fall has researchers scrambling up a steep learning curve.
“Every time we get an answer with this fall-seeded canola, we get two or three questions that pop up,” said Jay Byer with Alberta Agriculture.
He is the adviser on 17 fall-seeded canola projects that range from Fort Vermilion to Strathmore. They are in their second year of research.
Good results have been obtained in the last five years among producers who have grown it on a large scale. When conditions are right, the crop outyields spring-seeded fields.
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A survey of 122 farmers was done on canolas seeded in fall or one month earlier in the spring. The majority said they had better than average yields for these crops in 1996-97.
In the dry areas of southeastern Alberta, fall-seeded canola may be one way to capture some extra spring moisture.
“If we can take advantage of whatever spring moisture there is, that might be enough to get the crop started and off the ground,” Byer said.
A prairie fall introduces another challenge since snow can fall before Halloween and no one can get their seed in the ground.
If they can get the seeding done, winterkill doesn’t appear to be a problem because the seeds are insulated in the soil even though fall seeding means planting at shallower depths.
“Because they’re germinating in cold soil, we seed them shallower than the standard spring seeding depth. It takes longer for them to grow and longer for them to germinate and they have a harder time to get out,” Byer said.
The Chinook Applied Research Association in the Special Areas is participating in a number of canola trials that include 40 variety experiments.
Audrey Bamber, crop agrologist for CARA, seeded plots last Nov. 6 and observed varying results. Her biggest concern was a warm spell in December where temperatures reached 9 C with no snow cover
“The canola seems to have done well and I don’t think any of it germinated in the winter,” she said.
To prevent germination, seeds are coated with a hormone called abscissic acid or a polymer coating that is applied at low temperatures prior to seeding.
She is still assessing yields of fall-seeded and early-seeded canola. Some plots were seeded April 21 and May 6. These plots have only received 7.6 centimetres of rain as of July 17 so results may not be as good as hoped.
Volunteer crop
The idea for fall-seeded canola started in the 1970s. People noticed seed pushed out the back of the combine in the fall grew as volunteer canola the following year, said Byer.
But when they tried planting it in the fall there were a lot of weeds the following spring so fields were plowed under. With the advent of herbicide-resistant canola varieties like Quest, they were able to start again.
The advantages seem to outweigh germination and weed problems.
A headstart in early spring takes advantage of the spring moisture and blooming starts before July heat waves strike.
Damaging insects also come later in the season so researchers hope lygus bugs and bertha armyworms can do less damage on more mature plants.
Another idea is double cropping fields. By seeding canola in the fall, harvesting is done at the end of July and then fields can be reseeded to barley for silage.
There are winter canolas available that are handled like winter wheat or fall rye.
Some of the winter canola in Idaho apparently grew 1.8 metres high and had double the seed yield with good oil and protein content.
“I suspect that’s something we will try this fall,” said Byer. “There may be a method where we can get some of these winter canolas to produce very well.”
Researchers haven’t worked with seeding fall mustards or flax but may consider it.
