Thanks to snow, rain and an extremely late harvest, many growers were unable to apply nitrogen last fall.
On top of that, there are a few million acres of unharvested crops on the Prairies, and producers will have to deal with that mess before they can prepare for the 2020 crop.
That’s leading to many worries about a time crunch in April and May. How, in only a few weeks, will growers clean up last year’s crop, put nitrogen down and seed the 2020 crop?
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“Producers would normally get 30 to 70 percent of their fertilizer on in the fall,” Lionel Kaskiw, a Manitoba Agriculture crop production adviser in Souris, Man., said during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon.
“There’s a lot of talk right now about nobody’s got any fertilizer on. What are we going to do, to get the fields ready to go?”
His answer? Don’t panic.
If there isn’t enough time to apply nitrogen before seeding, it can be applied after seeding.
“Just because you can’t get fertilizer on, you can still start seeding,” said Kaskiw.
“There are other options…. Phosphate can go on with the seed, but if you need to put on a lot of nitrogen … you can put on nitrogen after seeding.”
Many producers have been experimenting with split applications of nitrogen — putting a percentage of the nutrient down before seeding and the rest after the crop emerges.
“Whether it is broadcasting or putting a liquid on, (they’re) having some really good results,” Kaskiw said.
Some growers use high clearance sprayers with drop nozzles.
“It would be more the dribble band. What you’re doing is dropping the fertilizer between the rows,” Kaskiw said. “There are some customs guys who do it.”
Applying nitrogen after planting could reduce some of the stress of seeding time.
“So, you don’t have that, ‘I have 10 days to apply all my fertilizer because I’m seeding on May 15,’ ” Kaskiw said. “Now you can say, ‘I’m starting seeding May 15 whether I get my fertilizer on or not.’ ”
While fertilizer is a concern, many growers are preoccupied with last year’s crop. Trevor and Wendy Daymond, who farm near Cypress River, Man., have about 1,200 acres of unharvested wheat.
A snowstorm dumped 25 to 50 centimetres of snow before the Thanksgiving weekend, flattening their wheat crop and hundreds of other fields in southern Manitoba.
Their wheat is now under the snow and they don’t have a plan yet.
“We haven’t decided what we’re going to do,” Wendy said. “It’s one of those (things) you can’t really decide until the snow is gone.”
