Wheat Pete’s Word, Mar 17: Waiting on green-up, frost seeding out west, and the right rate of N on wheat

Planting soybeans into a crimped cereal rye crop.

There’s good dry and too dry when it comes to the seeding and planting season. Right now Western Canada is far too dry, but Ontario is actually nearly the ideal amount of dry, with a few weeks to go before planting really begins.

Some field work has begun in the east and some Alberta farmers are pushing on with ultra early seeding, but that has sparked debate on whether it’s too early. In this week’s Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson discusses that debate, why this year reminds him of 2012, and suggests it’s too early for N on wheat.

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].

SUMMARY

  • Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
  • #harvest20 — lucked out to harvest on the frost, and got some corn done
  • It stood well!
  • #plant21
  • It’s dry out there: the west is super, super dry. They are “it’s time to worry” dry
  • But, in Ontario, we actually kinda want a dry bias into spring
  • Johnson’s not done with red clover yet
  • Long range forecast looks warm and dry…but 2012 was like this. March 2012 was so dry and so warm that some put in beans, and then a freeze in early May hit the fruiting trees and other crops
  • Plenty of clover going on and frost seeding happening
  • Frost seeding in organic systems means earlier start ahead of the weeds
  • Seeding date debate in Alberta keeps rolling
  • One farmer says there’s frost down five inches, maybe deeper. Should you really be seeding?
  • Pete says if the top 2″ is fit, give ‘er sh!t
  • Winter wheat: still green through the winter, does that mean it’s time for N?
  • Noooooooooo
  • No N until actual green up — that means NEW green growth, not existing green
  • If it goes on early and is warm and wet, you can lose most of it
  • 60 per cent of the time 150 lb of N is the right rate, only 10 per cent of the time is 90 lb the right rate
  • Split app manages risk, but doesn’t always add yield
  • But with high prices, this is likely the year to push rates
  • Soft red wheat, after peas, seeding in September. What’s the N credit?
  • Don’t go over 60 or 70 pounds, and yes, split it
  • Cereal rye vs. perennial rye management
  • Allelopathy of rye on the next corn crop. Strip till or do some tillage, please
  • Companion crop with forage soybeans? It’s all about harvest timing
  • Fleabane in alfalfa — should I grow forage soybeans to try and get control of fleabane?
  • Fleabane germinates all year, so the best you can do, is make sure everything is dead before you seed

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