By Jonathan Zettler CPA, CMA, CCA-ON and Patrick Lynch CCA-ON

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS

CONFIDENTIAL NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Send us your questions
If you have a question, just reply to this email, we try to have an answer for you within 48 hrs.  Or text Jonathan at 519 323 7505 or Patrick at 519 275 1058. If you want a topic researched let us know.

Unable to see pictures? Move this email to your inbox or ask your email app to download them. Usually at the top of the email in a header.

Crop Conditions

Weather -Wet. And wet most of the week. Maybe by early next week we can get back on the ground. Limited activity last week. Some fertilizer spread on frozen ground. I checked the last 3 years and this week in each of those years we were pretty much waiting for ground to dry. Winter wheat looks good. It looks like we will be in for “one shot nitrogen” on soft red wheat. 

Things to do This Week

Not much field activity to do. Growers are rechecking equipment. Some talk of corn going mouldy in storage. Check your stored grain. If you are wondering what priorities are, check last two weeks of The Cropwalker for things to do. If you have last minute changes to your crop plan, let your crop advisor or supplier know.  

Cereals

Q How important is it to get S on my wheat early? What yield loss can I expect if I do not get S on until May 1^st?  

Ans (PJL) 

No research on this with this years weather. My best estimate is it could cost 2-4 bushels on some soils. Any soil that has regular applications of S are not as apt to lose yield. Soils normally release S once they warm up. Currently soils are wet and cool so not a lot of S being released. Get S on as early as possible. Some growers are using drones or aerial. 

Q If I apply nitrogen now to my very wet soils won’t I lose some in the drainage water? The tiles are running full. 

Ans Don’t worry about losing some N. It is true water is leaving the tiles but it is not the water at the surface where the N is dissolved. Water on the top is pushing water out that is lower in the soil profile. If you have a chance to get N on just do it and don’t fret about possibly losing some nitrogen.  

Q – I do not have any nitrogen on my wheat yet. When it dries up should I use a nitrogen inhibitor if doing one pass? (JZ)  

A – Although some yield data indicates nitrogen inhibitors may benefit wheat, evidence is limited. The two main scenarios are: 1) applying nitrogen very early without splitting applications, or 2) encountering hot, dry weather with no rain expected for two weeks. 

If you still want to use an inhibitor, check the nitrogen source. Using a urease inhibitor on urea during wheat’s rapid growth will delay nitrogen release by 10-14 days, which may not help your goals. With 28% UAN and a urease inhibitor, at least half the nitrogen remains available for crop uptake. At this stage, I’d only consider a urease inhibitor if necessary. Personally, I avoid inhibitors because they tend to be counterproductive in winter cereals. 

Q – What is AmidaS ? (JZ)  

A – Yara’s AmidaS is a nitrogen and sulphur fertilizer that has ammonium sulphate and urea in one prill. The material should have better spreading than a similar Urea/AMS blend due to less separation and harder prills. Some retailers also feel there is less burn with AmidaS than the Urea + AMS combination.  

Q – I am considering XYZ foliar multi nutrient fertilizer from a local rep for my cereal crop. The main nutrient of concern is Manganese, think it will help? (JZ)  

A – One issue with the “do it” all micronutrient products that will mix with almost anything is they typically do not have enough of the target nutrient to address a nutrient deficiency. Most single elemental micronutrient products labelled for addressing deficiency are 5% or more concentration. The multi type products tend to have 0.1 to 1% or less. This is not an adequate amount.  

Weed Control

Reducing weed seed bank (PJL) from my notes from Rudy Brown former RCAT weed researcher 

1. Four to seven % of your weed seed bank germinates every year. (This was before Canada Fleabane. A large % of Canada Fleabane seeds germinate in the first year.) 
2. Twenty-five to forty percent of your weed seed bank rots every year. These are averages as some weed species differ. 
3. By not controlling all weeds, you add to the weed seed bank. 
4. You can control weed seed bank numbers in various ways, but the most effective is crop rotation. 

Wheat Herbicides – Crop Rotation Restrictions (JZ)  

Reminder the next crop in the crop rotation when figuring out your winter wheat herbicides. Winter canola, double crop beans, fall seeded alfalfa and cover crop mixes all have restrictions around herbicide selection. Suggest looking at Crop Protection Hub to narrow the list down and then work with your crop protection rep if the label is fuzzy on what will work.  

https://cropprotectionhub.omafra.gov.on.ca/products/herbicides 

The main watchout products are those in Infinity/Infinity FX, and those containing clopyralid and/or fluroxpyr. The others that may be of concern are Peak or Simplicity.  

Forages

Q I am short of forages because of dry weather last year. Can I under seed my new alfalfa with oats, barley and peas, to get some early feed? 

Ans (PJL) It may seem like a good idea to seed oats, barley and peas with your new seeding. It will give you some early feed. The downside is that if it turns dry the alfalfa will suffer. If it turns wet the peas will smother the new seeding. And if you are busy when it should be harvested you can end up with low quality feed and hurt the under seeding. If you really need feed just seed oats at about 100 pounds per acre. Apply 40-50 pounds of actual nitrogen and be sure to harvest at the milk stage at the latest. You will probably need a fungicide to control rust. Hopefully, you can get a crop of oatlage and then a second cut of alfalfa at the end of the summer. 

Fertilizing Triticale (PJL) 

Tom Kilcer formerly of Cornell wrote “my research and that of Quirine Ketterings of Cornell University show that in the fall for every additional pound of dry matter you store 22% CP or 70 pounds of nitrogen per ton of dry matter. We have found that 0 spring nitrogen rate had 9% CP and 120 pounds of nitrogen plus sulphur had 19% protein.” 

The table below from Maryland shows high nitrogen and high sulphur increased protein to 18% (PJL) 

Can I spray herbicide in-crop in established alfalfa? (JZ) 

If it is conventional alfalfa, the answer is no. If it is a pure-stand of HarvXtra alfalfa with the Round Up ready trait, then you can make a glyphosate application. It is best to get weeds like chickweed under control before rotating back to alfalfa. If this isn’t an option, HarvXtra might be a fit if you have extreme winter annual weed pressure.  

Patching up alfalfa fields. (PJL) 

You can no till annual rye grass into existing thin alfalfa stands. This will give very little growth by first cut but will get feed for second and third cut. You do not have to be very precise as to where you seed. If the alfalfa is growing the annual rye grass will not establish. If the alfalfa has died out the grass will grow. You cannot seed alfalfa into a thin alfalfa stand but could seed red clover. You can seed alfalfa into a stand that you tried to establish last year. For instance, if straw smothered out the new seeding and it never established you can seed alfalfa into these strips since there is no auto toxicity since there was no alfalfa there. 

Equipment

Spray droplet size and coverage (JZ)  

Last week I wrote about trying to manage for droplet size. One way to increase your coverage when running larger droplets is to increase your water volume. This will especially help when tank-mixing products like micronutrients or fungicides that need higher water volumes to get good coverage when using a larger water droplet. I would suggest avoiding using a “fine” droplet size in most situations, as you significantly increase the risk of drift.  

Business Matters

Better Farming Article 

Here is a link to my last article. It’s about Weed Control  

https://www.betterfarming.com/flippingbook/betterfarming/2026/april/50/index.html 

From The Archives April 18, 2016 

Temperatures for Weed Control in Winter Wheat  

I do not like to spray if the temperature is going to drop below 5^oC the night after spraying. Weeds must be actively growing to be killed. With low temperatures they are not growing as actively. Similarly, wheat must be actively growing to break down the herbicide. Sunlight and daytime temperature also enter the equation. On bright sunny, warm days it takes fewer hours to kill weeds and fewer hours for wheat to break down an herbicide. If spraying early in the season when weeds are small you can get as good of kill with lower rates of hormone herbicides as needed once weeds get bigger. 

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

-Ernest Hemingway