Don’t Forget Our Spring Learnings!

Friday, October 25, 2024

Mother Nature Will Continue to Throw Us Curveballs

By Paul Hermans

Growing crops can be so emotional. Mother Nature throws us curveballs all year long.

The 2024 spring Season had its challenges with late planting dates and excess moisture in most locales.

Here are some issues that occurred across a wide geography this spring.

Planting date does not trump yield data. Even emergence, especially in corn, outweighs mudding crops in. Research data would show we can gain two to five per cent more yield with earlier planting dates. Even emergence can gain us five to nine per cent more yield. This winter, explore equipment sizing and how long it takes you to plant your crops. Upgrading the equipment fleet size or hiring a neighbour may be feasible, especially if these wet spring weather patterns continue.

Winter wheat survival in 2024 was almost perfect across much of Ontario. The only time we experienced replant issues was with poor drainage areas and in fields where planting depths were too shallow. Shallow planting depths in wheat means the crown is not firmly anchored in the soil and is more exposed to frost heaving in the spring. Keep an eye on planting depth for high-yielding stands.

There is nothing worse than completing planting, having the crop come through evenly, and then having Mother Nature throw a slicing hailstorm curve ball at a field. Luckily both corn and soybean plants can take a lot of hail damage early in the vegetative stages. At the seventh leaf stage corn can lose 50 per cent of its leaf matter, only affecting yield by two per cent. Soybeans before flowering can lose most of its leaf matter early on with no effect on yield. As both crops get closer to reproductive stages, this changes dramatically, showing the importance of keeping the plant healthy during reproductive stages.

Soybeans just at emergence time can be more challenging with extreme hail. During early emergence and before trifoliates are set, the plant is more vulnerable to being cut off as the growing point is exposed. We witnessed this in a few fields this year where plants at the VC (cotyledon) stage were cut off at the base of the plant at ground level. Other fields that were earlier planted and in the V2-V3 (two to three trifoliate) growth stage did not have this issue. These fields had more protection from above, with the leaves acting like an umbrella protecting the plant.

Soybeans are an amazing crop. Tiny little axillary buds are found on the plant. If these buds are alive and actively growing, vegetative growth will continue. Keep this in mind when scouting fields next year.

With heavy, pounding, high-intensity rainfalls occurring more frequently, we are seeing more crusting after planting. Will these future patterns exist? It is hard to say, but over the last five years, the frequency and timing in late May/early June has been increasing. Ask yourself, would it be worth having a rotary hoe (or other equipment) available to deal with this? Explore options to find a decent used one that is sized adequately, so you can get over a lot of acres in a brief period. Explore purchasing one with friendly neighbours sharing the equipment costs.

Slug damage was on the rise this year. This was a function of the environment. We had more damage on soybeans planted into corn stubble. In 2023 we had our highest yields ever, which was a function of higher plant biomass. In no-till and minimum-till situations, this extra residue, coupled with delayed, wet planting conditions, harboured the right growing environment for slugs. Just like the hail example above, soybeans can endure a lot of leaf mass loss early on from slugs. In some cases, replanting had to occur. If these environments present themselves in the future, utilizing row cleaners or a light tillage pass will reduce the growing environment for the slugs, allowing the crop to grow ahead and outcompete this pest.

Weed control was a challenge this year. In 2023 we had a warm open fall in October/November, which led to winter annual weed germination. Coupled with a wet, delayed planting/herbicide application season, weeds grew extremely fast. The importance of fall and spring burndowns in these scenarios was evident, as it kept weed species at bay. Remember, as weeds get tall – beyond four to six inches – they are tougher to control, require more product to effectively reduce them, and take away yield from your crop by competing for vital water, nutrients, and sunlight.

As you are reading this, I am hoping harvest is progressing without delays on your farm. As you watch your yield monitor go up and down in the combine, take some time to reflect on the spring and how the cards were dealt early-on, yield wise. Reflect on what we can learn from this to make ourselves better for the future down the road. Mother Nature will continue to throw us curve balls.

Practising and learning from her pitches will allow us to hit a home run. Adapting to change in agriculture is critical for survival. Understanding crop growth, research and agronomy will help us all with this adaptation.

All the best with the fall harvest. BF