Canola Strips Field Notes

Just like 2018, spring soil conditions were dry and seeding depth was 1″. We were targeting a final plant stand between 5-7 plants per 2ft, based on thousand seed weight (TSW). A small amount of precipitation after seeding helped with emergence but conditions remained dry until early July when we received 4″ of rain. There was no noticeable moisture stress on the crop with a heavy amount of rainfall and disease pressure remained low as the rainfall came in late flower. The decision was made early on in the season that the straight cut varieties would be left to mature on their own without a harvest aid. The swathed treatments were swathed at 60% seed colour change and no one expected the weather to change as it did. Harvest was delayed by 3 weeks with the wet weather and once we finally did get in to harvest, there was a significant amount of shatter loss in the non pod shatter varieties. Considering the dry season again, compared to average for the area, yield on all varieties was higher than expected. Final yield only adjusts for moisture and dockage. TruFlex Varieties were sprayed with 1 application of RoundUp Transorb at .67l/ac. The DKTFLL 21SC was sprayed with Liberty and Centurion only with the first pass.

Planter Vs. AirDrill Field Notes

Using a planter for canola has become a very interesting topic at farm meetings. The idea of buying a planter for canola is one thing, but actually figuring out fertility and planting is a whole new experience. For 2019, we banded our MicroEssentials S15 at 125 lbs in the fall of 2018 on 15″ rows with our New Holland air drill. It is a perfect match for the planter as it is 40′ wide, while the planter is 20′. This allowed us to make 2 replicated passes of each treatment and also made harvest consistent by using a 35′ draper header to take a full pass each time. The trial was planted on May 17th and I believe that the timing was very good as the canola crop emerged quickly, enough so to keep ahead of the heavy flea beetle pressure. The 1 lb planter strip did struggle with the lower plant populations to keep ahead of the flea beetle pressure which, in my opinion, is reflected in yield. During the growing season, up to flowering, each strip was noticeable between the planter and air drill with the 2 row spacing, but by the end of flowering, there was almost no noticeable difference between each of the treatments. Yield at harvest came out very similar, but profitability comes down to seed cost with the 3 lb planter rate and the 4 lb air drill netting the highest return. Total plant counts will still need to be added to the results to compare what our final plants per square foot are. In the end, the goal here is not to lower our seeding rate, but to figure out our highest return based on plant stand.