Category Archives: Agriculture

Wirewoms

Posted on by
Reply

WirewormMost of the damage that this pest causes is done in the early spring; this is when the larvae are near the surface of the soil. The larvae will feed on the germinating seeds of cereal and potato crops or seedlings. They will also tunnel through the plant which could potentially kill it or cause disease. The color of the wireworm varies, but they are usually yellow or white. The distinguishing feature is the pincher on the tail end of the wireworm.

Adult wireworms, called click beetles, generally overwinter in the soil and will come out later in April and early May; when the temperature gets close to 10 degrees. The females will then lay their eggs and the larvae will hatch about 3-8 weeks later. This is when the larvae will start terrorizing your crops.

Wireworms, larvae stage, live in the soil for many years and can survive adverse conditions. Wireworm stage lasts anywhere from 4-11 years, depending on food availability. They will hibernate in the soil 5-25cm belong ground level. Once fully grown, which is usually July, the larvae will pupate. Adults however, don’t emerge until the next spring. The females can lay between 200-400 eggs between late May and Early June and then the life cycle begins again.

From Ashley Fitzpatrick, Crop Scout with McRae Holdings

 

Cutworms Are Out!

Posted on by
Reply

cutwormsNEWS FLASH – We found cutworms today! When you are out looking at your fields, especially your winter seeded crops, make sure to take a close look under the trash cover. These fellows were found in a Triticale field north of Coaldale, AB.

Cutworms are named for their annoying habit of cutting down seedlings, usually right at or near the soil surface. They vary in color and markings according to species, but a common behavior of cutworms is their tendency to curl into a letter C shape when disturbed. Cutworms generally overwinter as larvae, so they’re ready to feed as soon as temperatures warm and the crops are planted and start emerging. By late spring, the caterpillars have tunneled into the soil to pupate. Adult moths emerge in summer, when they mate and lay eggs. A singe female may lay hundreds of eggs, often on weeds in the crop. The new generation of larvae feed until temperatures drop low enough to send them into hibernation for winter.

Please, check your fields! If you are not sure what you are looking for, the team here at McRae Holdings would be happy to check things out for you.

From Amanda Archibald, Agronomist with McRae Holdings.

Spring Fertilizer Options

Posted on by
Reply

How much fertilizer do we place where and when? Spring is upon us and seeding is around the corner. Every year your crop planner gets asked this question in one form or another, Can you improve our fertilizer logistics? To answer this question, we need to get to the 4R’s of fertilizer: right rate, right reason, right amount and right placement.

Different crops have different fertilizer needs. For example canola needs a lot more nitrogen than flax does. They also have different tolerances to seed placed fertilizer. Generally, the bigger the seed the better tolerance to seed placed fertilizer. For instance, barley has a different tolerance than timothy seed and soya beans are hyper sensitive to seed placed fertilizer. Salt indexes, aka fertilizer burn, also vary among fertilizers. Furthermore, fertilizers are highly hygroscopic, meaning it attracts soil moisture. The fertilizer competes for water with the seed. Small seedlings cannot handle the “competition” for the water.

Different fertilizers behave differently in or on the soil. Such as urea nitrogen, it volatilizes and ammonium sulfate does not (or very little). There are options available to mitigate nitrogen loss. Agrotain™ is a product that can minimize these nitrogen losses. The cost depends on the amount of product you put on. Generally, Agrotain™ gives you 10 days coverage under broadcast conditions. Incidentally it is also a neat product for those that are single shooting!

There are innumerable options on product combinations.

One of the tough calls we make every year is, how much of a pain will it be filling up the seed drill? Most folks do not have sufficient humor in filling up the seed drill every 5 minutes. However, as difficult as it may seem that we make things, we do it with the best results in mind. A properly seeded crop is half grown!

We make very tough calls on every field, how much to broadcast, how much to seed place, how much to sideband, how much to fertigate etc.

Bear with us, if we ask for difficult or hard strategies we do it for a reason. On the other hand if some things cannot be done due to technological limitations, tell us. The customer is always right and we will work hard to make it work for all.

Confusing? Now you know why crop consultants don’t have much hair, they pull it out during crop planning season!

Till next time!

Jack Feenstra

Soil Conditions in the Pincher Creek Area- March 28, 2013

Posted on by
Reply

meYesterday, we went out to check where the frost was in the ground since seeding is just around the corner. We were not surprised with what we found. The soil temperature is just above zero and depending on the trash cover, the ground is still frozen.

Any land that was worked up and cultivated is by far much further along. The sun is able to penetrate through and the black soil just absorbs whatever heat it can. There is still frost in these soil conditions, but you don’t hit it until you are about three to four inches into the ground. The stubble fields vary a bit, but the frost is starting to come of them. On the average, the frost starts about one inch into the soil. Any field that has any trash cover (straw) on it is still completely frozen.

Basically, the ground is not ready for seeding just yet. The temperature is too cold and the soil is on the verge of being too frozen. With some heat in the upcoming forecast, I predict it won’t be long until we see the seeders rolling!

Amanda Archibald, Agronomist with McRae Holdings

Soil Temperature

Posted on by
Reply

Spring is here, even though it might be hard to see under all of this snow. I am sure that you are itching to get into the field and start preparing for seeding. However, it is still too early. Soil temperature is the key. This can serve as a useful guide for your seeding timing. Once the seed is planted, it is important that germination occurs uniformly and without delay. If the soil is too cool, germination is postponed, which results in seed damage and uneven or poor plant emergence. It may even be necessary to reseed. Any thermometer that will measure temperature at a specific depth can be used to measure soil temperature.

 

Minimum Temperature oC

Preferred Temperature oC
Wheat

4

20
Barley

3-5

20
Oats

5

15-20
Canola (Argentine)

5

15-20
Canola (Polish)

7-10

15-20

Potassium is the Yield Driver

Posted on by
Reply

The week of March 4th is a tough one to be away from the home office but A&L offered a refresher course on reading and understanding soil samples that we felt necessary to attend. Four of our team traveled to London Ontario and enjoyed partaking in this “level 3” training. A couple of things were driven home to us and the explanation of the reactions in the soil was a big help to us. Several times during the presentations it was pointed out to us that Potassium is the yield driver in our crops. We all know that Nitrogen is the fuel that we need to get there, but we will fall short of our expectations without adequate Potassium. Plants take up three times as much Potassium as Nitrogen until elongation stage. This confirms the need for a moderate amount of K in the seed blend to get the plants off to a great start. Without adequate Boron available to the plants the best nutrient program will fall apart. The roll of Boron in the plant has become more apparent to us as we observe crops in the field. Only under a microscope is it possible to see the structure of the plant development and we were shown at this course the collapse of the cellular structure due to Boron deficiency. Right after elongation is when the plant becomes most diluted in nutrients and this is the critical time to have Boron there to develop the fruit of the plant. Once again we see the importance of “believing” the soil test.

Doug McRae

Phosphate in Alberta Soils

Posted on by
Reply

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for crop production. It stimulates vigorous early growth and in the end hastens maturity. In Alberta we generally are not adequate in phosphorus where manure has not been applied on a regular basis.

Phosphorus exists in both organic and inorganic forms. Organic matter releases phosphorous slowly through mineralization. The rate of mineralization is influenced greatly by and not limited to pH, soil temperature, moisture and microorganism activity.

Inorganic phosphorus occurs in a few different combinations with iron, aluminum and calcium. When the phosphorous reacts with these elements the reacted element is not very soluble. At a pH over 7.2 typically phosphorus is tied up with Calcium, at lower than 7.2 Aluminum and Iron has a bigger tie up effect. In Southern Alberta we have a mixed bag of pH’s.

Phosphorus is absorbed by plants in two different forms HPO4- in calcareous soils, and H2PO4- in acid forms. Equilibrium of phosphorus is important in a soil system. Most any crop needs more phosphorus than can ever be dissolved at any one time. The ability of a soil to maintain adequate levels of phosphorous in solution is the key to plant available phosphorous status of the soil.

Phosphate deficiency symptoms typically show themselves as smaller plants which are less vigorous and typically show some purpling when young. Some plants like some hybrid corns typically show purpling when they are not phosphorus deficient. Generally speaking the use of both soil analysis and tissue sampling is recommended to determine phosphate deficiencies.

Phosphate is not mobile in soil; therefore placement is critical for optimum uptake potential. Not all crops require placement of P the same. Whether we are broadcasting P on Alfalfa crops or seed placing it on oil seeds, one thing is for sure soil placement is everything. Forms of Phosphate is essential as well, when we are growing crops in less than perfect soil pH’s or balances we must consider the potential interactions and tie-ups of the phosphorous and what types and combinations of Phosphorous will get into your plants better under your soil and environmental conditions.

Come in and talk with us about how you can maximize your phosphate dollars today, before the spring rush hits.

Terry Bonertz, CCA

 

Old to Us, New to Others

Posted on by
Reply

ESNRecently visiting a client, he mentioned a couple things I was surprised at. One was about ESN. I guess I shouldn’t take for granted that everyone knows that is a polymer coated urea that releases over time with temperature and moisture. It is a good agronomic product in its place. He likes the idea that he won’t lose nitrogen to the atmosphere. Herein lays the slight misunderstanding. With higher yields expected, higher rates of fertilizer are recommended. The higher rates can push the limits of seed safety if you only have a single shoot seeder. One option is to broadcast the nitrogen on the ground before seeding. He felt this was a too great a risk because some volatilization can occur. He thought ESN would allow him to put more nitrogen through the drill, and stop that risk. He was also concerned with the extra cost of a broadcast application. Justified concerns, but what are the economics?

Let’s use a rate of 100 pounds of actual N as a target. ESN is always at a premium to urea, at least $135 per metric tonne. So the premium no matter the cost of urea is almost $14 for that application. (Call me if you want the math explained.) Putting on an extra 10% (110 pounds of N) at current prices is just over $6. Custom application is under $7. So it’s a wash then? Not exactly, there is the $1 difference per acre, and that is if the premium is only $135. Additionally is 100 N seed placed safe even with ESN? Not in my opinion. Will you lose 10% of your nitrogen from a broadcast application? It is possible, but not likely if done correctly. So now we can be looking at the full $14 per acre cost. That covers a lot of crop planning and scouting. Suddenly the advice of an agronomist doesn’t cost you money but actually makes you money, but then again that is one of the things that is; “old to us new to others”.

Jason Trowbridge CCA, McRae Holdings, Cardston

 

Update from Simplot

Posted on by
Reply

Last week I attended the Simplot Customer Appreciation Outing. This event confirmed the level of support and integrity that this company offers to us. They had representation there from ownership to senior management who committed two days of their time to be with us and share their company vision and the commitment that they have to agriculture. The Simplot family owns and farms substantial acreage which keeps them very connected to the concerns that we have as producers. We are fortunate to be affiliated with a company like this that is focused on supplying us products that are top quality and designed for outstanding performance. Some of their innovative new products will be available for sale here in Canada later this year. One of the products that they are introducing is a Nitrate product. It will be a non-explosive formula which will release it from strict regulation. This will be great news for forage producers and will offer another tool for managing our nitrogen on cereals.

Doug McRae

What is Soil Health? Why Should I Care?

Posted on by
Reply

Soil health is the capacity of a soil to function. How well is your soil functioning to infiltrate water and cycle nutrients to water and feed growing plants?

Soil is a living factory of macroscopic and microscopic workers who need food to eat and places to live to do their work.

There are more individual organisms in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on Earth; thus, the soil is controlled by these organisms.

Tillage, fertilizer, livestock, pesticides and other management tools can be used to improve soil health, or they can significantly damage soil health if not applied currently.

Managing for soil health (improved soil function) is mostly a matter of maintaining suitable habitat for the myriad of creatures that comprise the soil food web.

Managing for soil health can be accomplished by disturbing the soil as little as possible, growing as many different species of plants as practical, keeping living plants in the soil as often as possible and keeping the soil covered all the time.

-From the United States Department of Agriculture