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Story Posted: July 28, 2010 Canola Watch 14: Insects still active, tips for harvest In This Issue: Insect roundup, How to harvest fields at various stages?, Be Export Ready: Know pre-harvest Intervals and follow product registrations, Best time to swath: 50-60% seed colour change, Coming events, Questions and contacts. Issues of the week Crop and weather reports Alberta: Warm temperatures in the south have moved canola along, but they're still behind - with most canola at 10% to 70% flower. In west central regions, canola continues to range from good to excellent. Favorable moisture and moderate heat have produced some heavy canopies with 6-foot stands. Most areas in the east could use a good rain to finish off the crop. Earliest seeded crops in the central regions are at early pod stage. In general, crops are one to 2 weeks behind. Crops damaged by hail storms from a couple of weeks ago are recovering and reflowering. The concern now is whether they will mature prior to a fall frost. Read the Alberta crop report. Saskatchewan: Canola is advancing quickly with warm-to-hot weather and only scattered showers, for the most part. Crops are filling in nicely in the west and in some eastern and northern areas. In the wettest areas of eastern Saskatchewan where canola has not recovered, growers are taking acres out of production. "That area is seeing a continuous drop in harvestable acres," says Jim Bessel, CCC senior agronomy specialist. Crops are one to 2 weeks behind normal. Read the Saskatchewan crop report. Manitoba: Canola has improved after a generally warm dry week, although many crops in the northwest and Interlake will remain short and thin due to relentless moisture stress earlier. Swathing has begun on a few early canola fields in the central and southeastern regions, but generally most reports indicate a week or 2 before swathing gets underway, especially in the northwest. Read the Manitoba crop report. Quick Hitters Alternaria is showing up in B. juncea canola. This is early and could cause some serious yield losses. Start scouting now, looking for lesions on the stem. It will move up the plant and eventually get to the pods, as shown in the photo below. The best staging for alternaria control is listed as 90% petal fall/late flowering to early green pod stage. Pre-harvest intervals vary from 7 to 30 days. Juncea, like Polish, is more susceptible than napus because it has less of a waxy barrier than napus.
Light stands encourage some growers to consider straight combining. To swath these stands would mean a higher risk for swath blowing, and some crops just don't have the stalk counts to hold up a windrow. But straight combining has its own risks when plants whip against each other in the wind. Click here to read the CCC factsheet "Straight Combining Success Depends on Many Variables." Tank mix when spraying out poor canola fields. Some growers with very poor canola crops want to cut their losses and set up crop management plans for next year. The photo below shows one such field around Melfort, Sask. When spraying out a canola field, consider adding a broadleaf control component to the glyphosate application - even if the field is not an RR variety. This will control all canola, regardless of the system.
Insect roundup
How to harvest fields at various stages? Section off fields based on staging and yield potential. Know where the greatest yield potential is within the field and plan to focus on protecting it the most. The greatest yield potential includes the plants with most seeds but also earliest maturing to escape a fall frost. Waiting to swath the whole field at once may put these top areas of the field at risk of pod shattering. Other options to consider while scouting:
Be Export Ready: Know pre-harvest Intervals and follow product registrations Pre-harvest intervals are listed on the labels of pesticides and under the "Restrictions" section of individual product descriptions in the provincial guide to crop protection. Click your province for a link to your guide: Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba Always be Export Ready: Ensure the product is registered for the intended use and registered to be used on the crop at that stage. Best time to swath: 50-60% seed colour change To assess SCC, open up pods on the main stem and look at the colour of the seeds. Pod colour is not a good indicator. Some varieties will show pod colour change long before the seeds change, while the opposite is true of other varieties - pods are green while seeds are brown. For growers faced with uneven maturity within fields, the best approach is to swath when the most mature plants are close to 60% SCC - provided that the least mature plants are showing some seed colour change at the base of the main stem and that seeds in the upper pods (and branches) are dark green and firm. This will minimize yield loss from seed shrinkage and improve the odds that the seed will cure, although it will likely take longer and may require some more moist conditions. Swathing prior to 15 to 20% seed colour change will likely reduce yield potential and could contribute to green seed issues under hot and/or dry conditions. For more information on harvesting a multi-stage crop, click here to download a 4-page PDF. Also click here to download the CCC's "Canola Time of Swathing Guide". Coming events Combine Clinic is coming to the Peace region, August 4, 8:30-3:30 near Fairview, Alta. Pre-register with Michelle at PARDA at 780-835-9158. Click here for more information.
Questions and contacts If you have questions on regional issues, contact one of the following Canola Council of Canada regional agronomists or provincial oilseed specialists:
This report is supported by each of the provincial canola grower associations. For more information on some of their activities, check out the following links:
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