SCOTT, Sask. – The trick, says research scientist Ken Kirkland, is predicting the first day of winter.
That’s the day you want to pull the air seeder out of the quonset, get into the field and start seeding next year’s herbicide-tolerant canola.
“You want to seed late enough that there is no germination,” said Kirkland, who started fall seeding trials in 1993.
That year, the fall-seeded, Roundup-tolerant canola was planted in late October and yielded nearly 40 bushels an acre when it was harvested on Aug. 7, 19 days earlier than spring-seeded canola.
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Yields were about a bushel per acre better and oil content of the crop came out one percent better than the spring-seeded canola.
This season, plots were seeded at one-week intervals starting Oct. 5, 1994. The Oct. 26 plot stands out.
By seeding on the cusp of winter, Kirkland said farmers can prevent the crop from germinating but allow it to use available moisture in late winter and early spring.
“Most of us are cultivating at that time,” he told farmers at the research farm’s annual field day.
The crop’s ability to capitalize on added moisture has proven especially beneficial this year. Kirkland said since the beginning of April the farm has received about 60 millimetres of rain (2.5 inches), which is considered drought conditions for the northwest Saskatchewan dark brown soil zone.
But the drought isn’t evident in the best of the fall-seeded canola, or canola seeded on April 28, for that matter.
Kirkland said the crop seeded on Oct. 26 emerged on April 26. Because it germinates in cold soil, the “crop hardens right off.” Twelve nights of frost as low as -5 C didn’t harm it.
That’s consistent with 1994’s trials. Six consecutive nights of frost, where temperatures hit -7 C and -8 C, didn’t damage the crop, Kirkland said.
This year, the canola has bloomed in favorably cool conditions in late May and early June, and has been podding for several weeks.
And in contrast to pest problems that are hurting most canola this year, the crop’s growth cycle doesn’t coincide with Bertha army worm or diamond-back moth. Sclerotinia stem rot is not a threat either.
Despite all its apparent advantages, Kirkland cautioned farmers the practice is risky.
Weed threat
Getting the crop seeded at the right time is tricky with Western Canada’s unpredictable weather. With 1994’s open fall, Kirkland commented the canola could have been seeded the first week of November.
The threat of winter annual weeds like stinkweed and flixweed means the practice isn’t feasible with traditional canola, unless those weeds aren’t a threat.
All of Kirkland’s trials have used Roundup-tolerant canola seed registered for limited research use this spring.
“The success of the whole concept depends on herbicide-resistant canola,” he said. “You spray when the weeds are ready.”
