Wheat Pete’s Word, June 3: T3 timing, flea beetle pressure, millipede feeding, and crusting relief

(Kara Oosterhuis/RealAgriculture)

Weed control questions, millipede feeding, and a crusting quandary — it must be early June!

This week’s Wheat Pete’s Word is a little longer than usual because there is just so much going on and so many great questions rolling in. Host Peter Johnson has got the answers this week to everything from tufted vetch control, to emergence issues management, and on to fungicide tips for T3 wheat. Listen now, read below, or download for later!

Have a question you’d like Johnson to address or some yield results to send in? Disagree with something he’s said? Leave him a message at 1-888-746-3311, send him a tweet (@wheatpete), or email him at [email protected].

  • Oh my gosh, it’s so dry in parts of Ontario, re-plant soybeans not getting in to where they should be. And then, it turned super cool! What the heck, Mother Nature. It was super hot last week, then this week so cool.
  • Make sure if you are putting in soybeans, get to moisture, because if you miss a rain…
  • Niagara region, on the other hand, is too wet. Another area has major crusting issues because of a hard rain after planting. Beans 2″ down are struggling to break through.
  • ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! Flea beetles in canola are out in full force. Early planted crop grew quite slowly and flea beetles are getting the advantage. Late May/early June seeded can pop out quickly and overcome feeding. There may not be many acres in Ontario, but there are thousands of acres in Western Canada, you guys
  • Seed corn maggot in corn is showing up. Millipedes are showing up, too, and are feeding on soybean seed that’s been in the ground for several weeks. No real control for millipedes. They are not controlled by seed treatments.
  • What’s up with weed control? Corn at 4-leaf that’s just blanketed with weeds. Starting clean matters!
  • Emergence lessons: soy, corn, AND canola in Western Canada. What about crusting on heavy clays? Rotary hoe? Maybe for corn, but canola seed is planted so shallow and those seeds are so tiny. What about running the drill over the corn? Probably better off running the drill full of beans 🙂
  • What do we know about corn struggling to emerge — sometimes the planter is your best tool!
  • Nitrogen rates on corn after a cold spring. Don’t cut rates. Soil mineralization has been slow. It needs it.
  • Sulphur on soys? Wait, no, soys need sulphur late in summer.
  • T3 time! It’s dry, so fusarium risk looks not so bad, but if we don’t keep that crop green and growing, we can’t make a mistake. Clean out that sprayer, including filters and end caps. Do the best job possible and use 20 gallons per acre and medium to coarse droplets. Use your angled nozzles, team. Do it right. Drop your boom. You’re targeting the head.
  • Cereal aphids are out there, but they’re not at threshold (for most) and they are helping build beneficial insect populations which will help with soybean aphids when they show up later
  • Don’t add anything in the fusarium control spray. Just fungicide.
  • N travels through the roots, not the leaves.
  • Be so so so careful with dicamba applications, please.

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