Spring 2018 Crop Update

Winter Wheat Status- The wheat has seen a slow and steady green up over the past 10 days. There has been some minor stand loss in areas where the soil was saturated too long but these areas are small and won't amount to much loss in the big picture. I am always impressed with the recovery of wheat that has stood in water for 5-7 days. The cool conditions help with this recovery. Pre Oct 15 planting dates look to have reasonable stands. There has been some snow mould across the region but it appears to be variety dependent. Post Oct 15 planting dates are struggling with single stems(no tillers) and patches of no population. Depending on the county this represents between 10-25% of wheat acres. The cold backward spring conditions have not been favourable to getting these late stands going. We have to be patient with these wheat stands. The best thing for these fields is to get a portion of the Nitrogen/Sulphur applied and wait. It often takes until May 10th to get a good handle on weaker wheat stands.

With the late start to spring, producers are weighing the trade off between split application vs applying N all up front. The wheat will likely still benefit from the split timing, particularly Hard Red wheat. However the timeline to get back in for the window for the second application may be difficult under the workload demand with the late start we are having. The second pass window is between 2nd node and flag leaf which is typically around May 20th. We are currently evaluating these late fields for stand development.

CAP and LEADS- There is significant funding for Farm projects within this new program. From equipment modifications to biosecurity to business planning there are a diverse range of programs to evaluate. The deadline to apply to CAP is May 8th. Another intake is planned for August. And the LEADS program will run until the funds are all used up. Its worth taking a look, if you have any questions I am happy to help support your applications.

https://www.ontariosoilcrop.org/canadian-agricultural-partnership/