A violent fall windstorm that tossed around canola swaths and hammered yields will have implications for next year, says a crop specialist.
Sherrilyn Phelps, regional crop specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said the wind caused severe pod shattering. Farmers in her area near North Battleford, Sask., lost 10 bushels per acre to the wind.
“That is 500 pounds of seed per acre that is now sitting in your fields, so canola volunteers are going to be an issue for this next spring,” she said in a Nov. 28 presentation at the Agri-Trend 2012 Farm Forum Event.
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Farmers who plant cereal crops on those fields will have plenty of good herbicide control options at their disposal, but those who plant pulse crops will have fewer options and limited efficacy with those options. Growers who decide to push their rotations and plant canola on canola will have to switch their herbicide tolerance systems.
Herbicides are not the only tool farmers have at their disposal. They may also choose to increase their seeding rates or pick varieties that are more competitive with weeds.
“Those are practices that organic growers use because they don’t have the herbicide options,” said Phelps.
They can also vary their seeding dates, delaying planting so they can control volunteers early or seeding early to get a jump on weeds.
“It all depends on your field situation,” said Phelps.
Herbicide residue is another agronomic challenge growers could be facing in parts of the southern Prairies that received lower than average summer rainfall last year.
Most residual herbicides are broken down through microbial activity, but the microbes need moisture to do their job. Phelps said herbicide residue caused severe injury and recropping following the dry years in 2001 and 2002.
“This is just kind of a heads up,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but guys should be thinking of their crop rotations and looking at their past herbicide history.”
Phelps said some herbicide products have residual properties that can damage crops. For example, Everest and clopyralids cause injury to pulses, canola is sensitive to Pursuit and Odyssey and lentils are extremely sensitive to sulfentrazone.
