Wheat Pete’s Word, April 19: Ragweed problems, warm soil, chilly corn, and clumpy fertilizer

What the heck, winter? Please see yourself out, says Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, because Canada has a crop to plant!

On this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, you’ll hear about whether or not early planted beans and corn are going to be OK, how to avoid clumpy fertilizer issues, and legacy of manure applications.

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].

  • We’re right into winter, again
  • Some of Ontario has both soybeans and corn planted
  • Some beans got their 48 hours of good warm temperatures
  • Corn could be more of a mess, if the weather stalls in this pattern
  • Corn is such a princess, we need it to come uniformly
  • Bob Thirlwall stuck a soil probe in the ground Monday night at 430 pm, at two inches, it was still eight degrees Celsius
  • Soil did warm up enough that ground cover is insulating right now
  • Kansas got rain!
  • Dale Cowan from AGRIS Co-op says Ridgetown has had 158 crop heat units (not growing degree days) for wheat
  • It takes about 150 crop heat units to get that corn emerging
  • Near Bayfield, dandelions are in bud
  • In terms of the wheat crop, we’re about seven days ahead compared to normal
  • As of Tuesday, we saw some wheat at growth stage 30
  • Essex County has winter canola is in full bolt, buds are forming. Will cold temps kill it?
  • Winter canola crop is much more resilient around that flowering time frame. Winter canola crop can make new flowers and re-flower and still have an excellent yield
  • Question about blending dry ammonium sulphate with urea before spreading. They really seem to to attract that humidity and they will gum up on the inside of the tubes or on the splash plates where the air delivery system is coming out
  • Even with a spinner spreader, if you have a lot of ammonium sulphate in the blend, you’re going to have to clean off the paddles on that spinner pretty regularly or you’re going to get into a streaky mess
  • One inhibitor versus a split application on advanced wheat? Assessing the wheat stand here!
  • Split-app N management and N release/availability
  • Land-levelling: to take out the minor little dips to decrease ponding, killing or setting back plants in those areas
  • How long can water sit on wheat? Depends on temperature
  • Legacy of manure is a real deal, friends
  • Christine Brown has some really great data on the legacy effect of manure lasted for 100 years
  • Coming up on Monday night, The Agronomists with Phil Needham and Wheat Pete. 8pm. Eastern. Here’s the link!
  • Angles in the field where the wheat was better, 20 feet apart. What the heck? It was from the Great Plains turbo till that he ran in the corn stalks before he planted the soybeans last spring
  • Soybeans after winter wheat crop; what about herbicides on wheat? Anything with clopyralid in it is an issue
  • Group 14 ragweed resistance, and want to grow identity-preserved soybeans, i.e. Reflex, Eragon/Heat and Valterra. Plus there is Group 2 resistance, i.e. Pursuit, Classic. Some Group 5? What options are left? Basagran, maybe
  • It really gets tough, so maybe IP beans isn’t the best next crop

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