MINOT, N.D. – Warren Kaeding was embarrassed by what he saw last summer in his trial plots of fall-seeded canola.
The stands were thin, short and patchy, suggesting he could expect no more than 25 bushels per acre. They were also beside a well-traveled highway for all the neighbors to see.
Kaeding, a farmer and pedigreed seed retailer from Churchbridge, Sask., endured the embarrassment, and was later glad he did.
Speaking Feb. 1 at the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage conference in Minot, Kaeding said the yields from his fall-seeded plots came in higher than expected.
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The yields ranged from 34 bu. per acre from a plot he seeded on Oct. 17, 1998, up to 43 bu. per acre on a plot seeded Nov. 3.
“The results we got were, needless to say, quite a surprise.”
Kaeding used the seed treatment Extender on most of his trial plots, which gives seeds a polymer coating that can prevent moisture from triggering fall germination.
Kaeding said seeding canola in the fall can help spread out the workload on his farm. The plots where he grew fall-seeded canola were planted on winter wheat stubble Sept. 2.
The early timing of the canola harvest also offered an edge when marketing the crop, he said.
The trial results encouraged Kaeding to plant a quarter section to canola last fall. The seed, which again had the Extender coating, went into the ground Oct. 28.
Gerry Willerth, a farmer from Indian Head, Sask., is equally optimistic about fall-seeded canola.
He planted trial plots in the fall of 1998 and harvested 35 bushels per acre last summer. That was slightly higher than the yields from his spring-seeded canola.
Willerth had an experience similar to Kaeding. The crop did not look promising, even as swathing time approached, but then surprised him when he tallied up the bushels.
Both farmers discovered that the fall-seeded canola produces pods almost to the ground, which helped explain the unexpected yields at harvest time.
Willerth said planting canola in the fall allows it to blossom earlier the following year. Summer heat is what causes the plant to stop blossoming.
“The longer your plant will blossom, the higher yield potential you’ve got,” Willerth said.
He admitted there are still some “kinks” to work out, including choosing the best time to plant. Also, the crop has to be swathed lower than normal because pods line the stem almost to the ground. Willerth said he cut the 1999 crop rather green and rolled it heavy to protect the swaths from being swept away by wind.
