In some areas of the country, whether on time or late, farmers will have to deal with seeding into cool, wet soil conditions. As we approach the 1st of May, farmers who haven’t seeded yet may be looking at planting canola in less than ideal conditions just to get the crop in the ground.
The temperatures in the soil can vary at this time of year greatly anywhere from 2 to 10 degrees depending on conditions. Those temperatures can greatly influence germination and emergence times. Differences of one degree can lead to a difference of five days when it comes to germination and emergence. That difference can effect plant growth and the ability to expose our flowering plants to those peak sun days in July that are critical for yields. Soil temperature can also affect our seeding rate when we consider field mortality. We want to increase those rates when conditions are less than favourable to plant survival.
Anastasia Kubinec is an Oilseed Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives. I spoke to her about the effects of seeding in cooler soil and some of the things farmers can to deal with seeding in those conditions.
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