If a grower decides to try something new, find a uniform field, try one product at a time and leave an untreated check, ensuring both treated and untreated areas are accurately measured for final yield and grade so a true economic comparison can be made. In reality, some products may provide a good payoff for the price, but that payoff…
Fertility
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When fields are sulphur deficient, canola that receives only nitrogen fertilizer (front left in photo) can yield less than canola that receives no fertilizer at all (right in photo). Canola plants need sulphur to produce three key amino acids: methionine, cysteine and cystine. Without the S to build these amino acids, N creates toxic amides in the plant that greatly… -
A 50-bushel crop can remove more than 50 pounds of P205 per acre. Growers using only seed-placed phosphate at a rate of 15 pounds per acre can slowly deplete the soil of phosphate. That can start to affect yield potential on the field over time. These plants, demonstrated at CanoLAB, were seeded the same day in a greenhouse and fed… -
Give the brand new online Canola Diagnostic Tool a pre-season test drive at www.canoladiagnostictool.ca. Start with a problem scenario that you encountered in a canola field in 2012, and work through the tool to see what potential causes it provides. Read the cause descriptions and “ways to confirm” to determine which cause is most likely…
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Here is a list of labs that service canola growers in Canada. Labs are organized under the following headings: Soil nutrient analysis, Plant tissue nutrient analysis, Seed quality tests, Disease diagnostic on plant tissue, Soil analysis for clubroot, Herbicide resistant test for weeds, Herbicide carryover in soil, and Pesticide residue in plant tissue…
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Not a regular soil sampler? If you're interested in starting, this is as good a time as any to start. The more you test, the more you can learn from the numbers. Benchmark samples collected from the same places for years will tell you more than a random sample done once. To see trends, you need several years. You can…
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A long fall provides a few extra weeks to look back on the year that was — to reassess plant stands, fertilizer rates and disease levels. A long fall also gives growers an opportunity to control weeds and distribute residue in fields planned for canola in 2013… -
If nutrient reserves were not utilized because of environmental extremes, where are these reserves? How big are they? Soil tests will help determine this carryover. Because some may be concentrated at lower depths, growers may consider submitting 0-6” and 6-24” samples. If crops (including non-canola crops that will precede canola in 2013) had heavy biomass but low yield, nutrient in… -
If you want to use soil test results to see whether this year’s crop had enough nutrients, sampling now would be the better option. To plan for next year, soil samples taken closer to freeze up are a more accurate estimate of levels next spring…
