6/6/23 WHEAT COLLEGE

    Mostly an interesting meet.  It would have been better if the venue (Palouse Empire Fair Grounds Community Bldg) had better acoustics-sound system for those of us with hearing issues.  Sound is slightly off, reverberating, making a lot of words indistinct.  

    --Ted Labun from Canada speaking on "successfully growing dryland wheat".  My main interest was his comments on canola, after his talk.  Points he made: --different hybrids with, some growing tall with narrow branching, and others growing shorter with wider branching.  The first he likes seeding in 7" rows, and the latter in 10-14" rows.  --he likes plants every 6-7" along row.  --where a clump of seed drops, only 1-2 seeds will germinate.  The others do nothing.  Spacing out seed allows for reduction in seeding rate.  Instead of 400,000spa, you can go down to 250,000spa.  --he likes the wheat-canola rotation.  --his pics showed a lot of residue (flat) on the ground.  --he likes a black slot where residue has been moved to the side for seed to emerge.  He could not tell me if there are issues with growing canola in tall standing stubble (possible light interference).  His talk indicated he was more familiar with minimum till practices, compared to no-till. 

    --Pic below:  Aaron Esser promoted his color coded crop/field chart with chemistry groups used by year.  

This is a great tool for quick one page visual reference of chemistry when endeavoring to reduce weed resistance.  The problem I see is that his colors don't show enough contrast for some crops he has assigned.  We should develop this for our operation.  He likes using Liberty Link canola instead of RR canola.  It is an opportunity to reduce one or more applications of glyphosate in the rotation. I think it is a given that most of us use too much glyphosate and should look for alternatives where possible.

    His studies show that cultivar genetics was a better tool for disease control than applying fungicides.  From my biological farming study, fungicides are particularly bad for beneficial soil fungi, so it's preferable to avoid them when improving soil health is a goal.

    A new management tool he unveiled today was charting by field weed species, ranking them by worst as they impact crop yield.  *This suggests that we should not try to kill every weed in the crop/field.  *Changing that mindset toward weed management programs will likely reduce chemical applications, reducing potential weed resistance, by targeting weeds that impact crop yield.

    --Rick Wesselman from Syngenta talked about plant roots.  Roots are the foundation for the plant.  Healthy root system makes for better yield.  Seed coatings are being developed that enhance root growth early in root development.  Our operation is looking into these type products.  This year we have applied biological material to all our seeding either by seed coat applications or in-row with the seed.

    --Rachel Wieme from WSU gave information and demonstration about soil pH and why it matters for crop production.  She showed how varied the pH is by taking readings along a 12" soil probe sample.

       Several people in the group remarked that they were introducing cultivation back into their no-till operations because of their finding soil stratification of nutrients and pH.  *From a soil health aspect this is going backwards.  In our environment, growing sufficient biomass to move the needle on soil health in a positive direction is difficult.  *No-till, in and of itself, is not sufficient.  *No-till dramatically reduces the loss of SOM, and corresponding, slows the rate of deteriorating the soils health.  *Cultivation in any form accelerates the loss of soil organic matter, surface biomass, and soil structure.  *Natures plowmen (worms) disappear with cultivation.  *They need food on the surface, and in the form of soil organic matter.  *Along with food, they need undisturbed ground for reproduction.  * Worms, both vertical borers and horizontal borers breakup soil stratification by moving material around in the soil profile.

    --A spokesman from Altitude Agri Services gave a talk, and demonstrated a T30 agriculture drone.  This is new technology to agriculture and there are a lot of questions.  He stated that a drone set up with two extra batteries, charger and generator) costs between $30-40 thousand dollars.  I didn't hear him talk about licensing.  We have been looking into this technology since January. 

  *The T40 (pictured here) became available in the fall of 2022.  Licensing for legally flying these heavy drones is a pretty straight forward process, but is time consuming and can be expensive depending on how you go about it.  *There are individuals and companies scrambling to set up training/licensing programs.

(*my thoughts interjected into the info. presented.)

FULVIC vs HUMIC ACID

In our Biological Farming Group there has been a lot of references to Humic, Fulvic, and Folic acids for plant growth.  There is a lot of information online, and it gets very confusing.  Below I am providing a sample and possibly a summary of the past three years of meetings and internet searches boiled down to what basics I want to keep in mind about Fulvic, Humic and Folic Acids.

Below, --two image inserts giving information, are from Earthgreen Products.  A good synopsis of the organic acids.  More information can be obtained at < Fulvic / Humic >, and are a source for "humin" products.  Folic Acid is used for plant nutrition, but normally referred as a source of vitamin B in human health discussions.  The bottom image insert on Folic Acid is from ResearchGate. < Folic Acid / Grain >.

VERY short summary:   ---Both acids are essential for plant health.  ---All three organic acids are useful and show success in many plant growing environments.  ---Fulvics are soluble at all pH levels.  ---Humics are only soluble in alkaline solutions.  ---As stand alone products, Humics have a large molecule and are best used for soil application.  ---Fulvic has a small molecule that enters plant tissue more easily and is best used as a foliar.   ---Best performance however is with a combination of Fulvic / Humic.   ---Humic increases the permeability of cell walls, making it easier for fulvics to carry nutrients into the plant.   ---While Fulvic is the carrier for nutrients, humics make nutrients more available in the soil.   ---They also work in tandem to increase water holding capacity and stimulate root and shoot growth.  

---Folic is generally used as a foliar.  Foliar applications at several specific stages of growth showed significant plant and grain benefit; however, applications at one or two stages of growth didn't make much difference.

 

There are several studies at ResearchGate about Folic Acid.  I chose this one because of being done on a grain.

2016 Harvest Update

   This year has been the most confusing of my 60+ years of farming.  The weather looked like it was going to treat us pretty good, but, mostly after the fact, we found it wasn't as good as it first appeared.  I thought we missed the frost in April, but as it turned out, not quite.  The moisture was coming along just fine, then it shut off.  The years moisture was just short of our long term average.  The heat wave in May, although not real hot, apparently did damage depending on where the crop was in it's development.  The temperature for this growing and harvest season was quite comfortable.  A relatively mild winter, and no 100+ days. Very different from 2015's long stretch of 100+ temperatures.  All in all everything was looking pretty good.  Looking back on Art Douglas' prediction, I think he was right on for my immediate area.  There apparently was a big swing of temperature in the April-May period that set us up for falling number issues depending on area, and wheat cultivar.  I knew when it happened but didn't think anything about it, --not severe, not unusual.  Everything I hear is antidotal; however, I'm of the opinion that the test is badly flawed.  Inconsistency in the ability to replicate the numbers, even in a relatively narrow range, is wide spread.  It appears to me that the milling industry has found a way to purchase high quality grain, --cheap, and at our expense.  Hopefully, this will be addressed before another harvest.  I have been hearing of some fantastic yields, but some are pretty mediocre,  and some fields have very low FN's, but not all of them.  With the quality issues and plummeting prices, this will be a year we hope to never repeat.
     Now, for our farm.  ---Wheat yields were good, but not exceptional, --with exception.  The FN's varied across the fields ranging from 279-330.  Wheat yields ranged from 83 to a little over 100.  This yield range is close to norm for us at this stage,--slow but steady gain over time.  We have a variety of soils ranging from very complex shallow ground to deep Athena soils.  Our cover crop ground was the 83 and we consider that fantastic.  This is the worst ground we have with complex soils and large areas that have a couple of inches of soil over fractured rock, and infested with Rush Skeleton weed.  This area was seeded to a multiple cultivar (brassica/legume) cover crop last year and used 3" water compared to our CF.  This spring there was less than an inch (0.8") difference in moisture.  There were variations in yield over the CC area but none of the shallow spots showed significant drop as was expected.  Was this unexpected yield do to the cover crop?  Too early to tell!  One year doesn't make a trend, but since it wasn't a flop, it's encouragement to expand the practice.  Our experience is paralleling the experience of other farmers in the area, --covers used 3" moisture, yields didn't collapse.  This also matches the literature on the subject.  The remainder of our Brundage 96 looked exceptional through harvest, but didn't end up yielding exceptional.  The Puma went over a hundred.
--- The mustard was a disappointment.  Yields ranged from ≈680 to 870#/a.  The stand emerged well with an OK population.  Quality was good.  It was harvested with the stripper head.  The field Rep. indicated that they were finding similar results region wide, and no real explanation as to why.  In our case, my thoughts are: --we should seed 8-10#/ac instead of the 5-6, and that we seeded to shallow.  we had emergence over too long of time span.  I'm guessing that another factor was that the little heat wave in May hit the mustard at the wrong time in it's development.  I didn't see frost damage during emergence.
--- The winter peas were problematic from the start.  They yielded 1262#/a.  One field was destroyed because of contamination with Billy Beans.   They were all dormant seeded in November.  They came up this spring looking great and high population.  With no experience in dormant seeding we didn't put on the pre-emergence chemistry.  Bad mistake!  Spring applications of grass and broadleaf herbicides were a total failure.  Dormant seeding of winter peas has great potential, but make sure to get the pre-emerge chemistry applied.  We ended up with an even over-story of Jim Hill Mustard, that proved to be challenging to harvest.  An IH8230 with MacDon header had no easier time than our N7 and standard head.  A very slow grind.  The crop grade showed high percent of hard seed which was subtracted from the germ making it un-usable as seed stock.  Our supplier had only one field that returned seed quality winter peas, and they were seeded in the spring, --so missed the environmental condition that caused the hard seed.  We will likely see Austrian peas show up for several years because of this hard seed issue.  Fortunately they are not difficult to remove.
----The spring peas were fantastic at Thornton.  Thornton was DRY.  They were ≈6" below normal, but the yields were very good.  Most communities north and south of Thornton had fairly normal precipitation.  Except for the rainfall, the other environmental conditions favored a good crop in 2016.  Our "Ginny" peas ranged from 2400-2980#/a, depending on the field.  The normally high yielding low ground tallied as much as 6500#/a.  They stood way too long for a green pea; however, the bleach, was insignificant, and seed coat damage was reasonable.  Normally green peas will have significant bleach if they stand beyond maturity.  Ginny is a great cultivar.  We harvested them with a standard head w/o pea lifters.  A slow harvest and in areas some peas were left on the vine (too deep in the track).  Our old wheat residue was left intact and we had a lot of pea residue left in the field.  We expected we would process all the residue, leaving exposed ground, which is normal with pea harvest, --but didn't.
--- Our DNS (Glee)@ 42b/a was ok.  Heavy weight, but only 13+% protein.  Stand was good but maybe it needed to be thicker.  Consider increasing seed rate, --we had 2-3 tillers and don't want more than two.  Probably needed more N to get protein.
--- Our SB (Lenatah) @3030#/a was ok.  Heavy weight and quality was excellent.  Stand was good, but may consider increased seeding rate.
--- We had a Viterra test plot of 6 new spring canola cultivars for the area.  Most were a GMO of one type or another.  They all had excellent yields ranging between 1700-2700#/a.  The plot was in the flat in front of our house.  The trial was not limited in moisture, and had a high pH (8+) in much of it.  We seeded the plots after the mustard and before moving to Thornton.  The seeding rate was ≈4#/a.  The stand developed over about 3 weeks,--it didn't seem to effect the outcome.  The canola probably stood too long; however, there was very low shatter on all the cultivars.  The quality of the stand didn't allow much movement within the crop canopy.

(??) MAKING A SILK PURSE FROM A SOWS EAR

Summary:  Cropping a broadleaf behind a broadleaf is problematic if grain is the expected end product.

Background:   Last fall we wanted to even out field acres.  To do this we had to put winter peas (WP) on Billy Bean (Garb) ground.  The remainder(majority) of the WP was put on DNS ground.  The stripper headed bean ground had very light residue, and the stripper headed DNS ground had reasonably heavy residue.
        The ground had little or no weed/volunteer growth when we applied 20oz/ac of Rt3, late October.  We dormant seeded the Austrian WP on the second week of November, placing them ≈2.5" deep.  Freeze up occurred a couple of weeks later.  The information from the breeder was to get the peas to break germ but not emerge until early spring.  Our timing was apparently good, because this spring we had three times the population to qualify for a successful stand, and no weedy cultivars were present.  When temperatures warmed, the weeds and volunteer came big time in the garb ground, but the DNS ground remainder relatively clean.  The only broadleaf chemistry we can apply to the WP is Basagran and that does not have a good reputation. There is good grassy weed chemistry for WP.  A couple of cold nights set the WP back allowing the weed species to become more competitive.
       The pic below shows the WP on the garb ground.  The WP are topped by mustards.  The RCIS evaluated the stand the other day and came up with a projected yield of 2100# if all the stars line up right.  All you can make out in this pic are black mustard and jim hill mustard.  Neither cultivar do we see anymore in our small grain crops, but they waited for a screwed up rotation like this to show their ugly head.  The real problem with this crop though is not the weeds, but the surprising number of garbs that germinated and rooted.  The fear of our supplier is that the garbs will foul the grades making them non-marketable other than feed.  If there had been a good mat of residue I don't think these garbs could have survived long enough to root down.

         The pic below shows our WP crop on DNS ground.  It has good residue cover that includes DNS stubble and the previous WW stubble.  The CrossSlot drill has had a low impact on the stubble, other than laying it over.  If the stars all lineup, this field still holds the potential of 4200#/ac.

SO, HOW DO WE MAKE SOMETHING POSITIVE FROM THIS!

         The WP on garb ground will not go to harvest, --so, what to do??  We could still destroy and reseed to a C4 plant like millet or milo.  We could CF the field, however, the next scheduled crop is in the spring of 2017.  We could manage the field as a cover crop (green fallow).

        We have decided to manage this field as a cover crop, but instead of destroying this mess and seeding cultivars normally associated with cover crops we are going to utilize what's already growing.  ( 6/26/19 update: --After re-reading this post I find that this is not what actually occurred.  Kye couldn't stand this mess so we roundup the field and seeded a 9 cultivar cover crop mix that included --2 canola, 2 mustard, 2 clover, 2 radish and one vetch.  This grew to maturity and was seeded to winter wheat.  The winter wheat emerged but was very small the following spring.  The notable part of this was that I found no noticeable runoff from that field, where our CF field did have runoff.  Our rotation for this field changed at this point.  I'm leaving the remainder of this post more as a "what if".  We may have been able to accomplish a similar result without the expense of seeding the cover crop mix.)  The next regular cash crop will be either spring wheat or spring barley.  None of the weed species currently growing, (primarily black mustard and jim hill mustard, along with a smattering of fiddle neck tarweed, prostrate pigweed, russian thistle, and china lettuce), offer any real challenge for the herbicides we use on spring cereals.  This field has a long history of high populations of grassy weeds (primarily downey brome), but fortunately, following the garb crop I have found NO grassy weeds other than a few plants of rattail fescue.  Chemistry for grassy weeds in a broadleaf crop are killers, -- not suppressors like those available for small grains.  This is a very good reason to incorporate a legume or brassica in the rotation, --removing grassy weed competition.

       Our Reasoning: (for keeping this mess).  WP, with our high population will grow a lot of biomass.  I expect the vines to reach 12 feet long and stand 3 feet or more in height.  Both the WP and garbs are nodulating well, so, we are growing N.  The mustards, which is the primary weed species, are growing long taproots (already slender tubers are 12+inches, and will continue to grow for some time.  They will add significant amount of biomass along with the WP.  We'll watch to see if one suppresses the growth of the other.

         Our goal for this field is: grow biomass, grow N, keep live roots for as long as possible.

---bio mass for surface protection and critter food (worm, and others).

---N for the following grain crop.  (hopefully we can find a way to successfully test for it)

---live roots for making critter food, and boring holes to allow moisture infiltration later.  

         How to manage from this point on (????).

---We'll plan to terminate at full bloom or early pod set to maximize the N.  When pods start setting, N is moved from the root nodules to the leaves and eventually in to the pea.  (I have to learn more).

??-- can we mow or crush, setting back the podding, allowing the WP to continue building N?

??-- will we need to seed into this mat to extend the cover crop through the winter?

Residue & Wind

           The fall of 2015 we had several wind events of short duration where winds gusted to 30, 40 and 50mph, depending on the event.  I never gave much thought to it at the time; however, this spring it was a shock to see a couple of bare areas on SE slopes.
           This field started out with good standing cover of stripper headed spring barley that was chem fallowed, and seeded to WW around September 20th of 2015.  We missed the moisture so much of the field did not emerge until late October or early November.  This is a scene similar to what I experienced 30 years ago, in this same field,  when I mistakenly thought that it was good to mow standing stubble early in the season for ground cover.  it didn't take a lot of wind to deposit residue drifts up to a foot deep on our NE facing slopes at the time.  Only once did I make that mistake.  After that, I mowed a short time prior to seeding, leaving standing stubble most of the fallow year.  We needed to shorten the stubble to minimize problems drilling.

        The pic below shows where I chopped a hole in the packed residue drift.  The drift was  4" deep and very dense packed.  It was easy to cut this hole with my hand tool.  Walking on this was like walking on a firm sponge.  Very few WW cultivars emerge through this dense, deep mat.  As may be expected the soil surface was very damp.  Soil was cool but not cold, --probably in the low 60's.

       The pic below shows a WW plant that made it through this dense residue pack.   Close up shows that the plant received light nearly to the ground level.  I don't have a clue as to why a few cultivars emerged where the vast majority did not.

  

Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of these wind events for years to come.  One event in late November dropped our cast iron flag pole my grandfather put up over 100 years ago.  Winds topped 50mph.  Very little damage was noted except for the flag pole.

HAIR PINNING RESIDUE

Some would say that this crop is in trouble with all the hair pinned stubble showing in the seed rows.  

The pic above shows hair pinning of residue in the seed slot left by our CrossSlot drill.  This is normal with any disc opener whether it is a double or single disc. The difference in the CrossSlot is in  the placement of the seed.  With the CrossSlot the disc punches the residue (some of it is cut in the process, and the remainder pushed down in the traditional hairpin manner) to the bottom of the disc; however, the seed is not nestled in the hair pinned residue, but resides outside of the residue on a shelf surrounded by good earth.  The design of the packer wheels (shape, angle, and position) close the slot firmly without packing directly over the slot leaving an area of low resistance for the new cotyledon.   By adding residue to the slot, still lower resistance can be acquired and seed (large and small) can be emerged from deeper in the soil profile than would normally seem prudent.  With this being said, I am convinced that failed stands are more likely to happen by seeding too shallow, rather than seeding too deep.  This of course is contingent on the technology built into this opener not being compromised which impacts the integrity of the slot.

Pic's above show emerged stand of mustard in rows that appear to be hair pinned.  We're very pleased with the population that averages 6 plants per lineal foot on 10" row spacing.  The seeding rate was 5.5 pounds per acre.  We have had little or no moisture since seeding and under the residue the surface of the ground is very damp.  Exposed ground is showing drying condition.

Rhizoterra Field Tour -- 7/22/15

Recently I attended this field tour.  Rhizoterra does full scale no tillage farm trials aimed at understanding the link between healthy soil, healthy plants and nutrient dense food.  The trial site is ≈50 acres on the Fred Fleming farm north of Reardan, WA. on hywy 231.  The principal researcher is Dr. Jill Clapperton who has a long career as a soil scientist, microbiologist and crop specialist.  Rhizoterra has a lot going on with different rotations and cultivars, along with some soil amendments.  The following struck my interest.
     Canola: -- one canola cultivar particularly strikes my fancy,--Extend(sp)/Jensena?. (I'll get the name right later when it becomes a more viable option.)  This cultivar is a canola/mustard combination that does well with warm temperatures.  It holds flower up to 105 degrees.  It matches yield with cooler temperatures, and yields upwards of 25% more in hot temperatures.   It is very resistant to shatter.  It bolts earlier than most.  It doesn't branch out as much as other canola.
     Compell, from Basin Organics, is proving to increase yields.  This compost material is pelleted so that it can be mixed with grain or applied separately.  It apparently can be liquified, and mixed with fertilizer.
     AgZyme is another product that shows some promise as a yield enhancer.
     Faba Beans hold Jill C.'s interest as an adaptable crop for our area.  One caution she mentioned: don't raise another broadleaf crop immediately behind the Faba Bean crop.  Broadleaf "weeds" will be problematic.  Faba Beans appear to super charge the germination of broadleaf cultivars.
     Dezi chickpeas is Jill C's preference over the Kabula for inclusion in a cover mix.  They are very efficient P users. (I need more explanation on this)   Currently, she stated, there is not a good inoculant for them.
     Kenwa(sp) is another cultivar that Jill C. expresses interest in.  It looks very much like lambsquarter. Looking down into the branch and/or flower base there is more of a purple color, and I think it aligns seed differently than lambsquarter.
     Jill C. showed a new soil analyzing tool for the field.  The Tracer, by Bruner, is a hand held photon gun that can be used to analyze soil elements.  The device tends to show more of each element than laboratory tests.  In the lab, the extraction process is difficult.  She, in cooperation with others, is developing a calibration chart that will give meaning to the readings.  The gun will give readings from soil cores, or small plastic bags of soil placed on a platform attached to the end of the gun.  We all have small areas that do much better, or worse, than most of the field.  This may be a tool that could track down the "why's'.  This is a very expensive device, so the average operation will probably have to hire a service.
     Solvita Soil Life Test Kit was demonstrated.  This kit can be purchased through Woods End Research.  This is a good test if you can wait 24 hrs for results.  Instead of using disturbed soil, Jill C. placed the paddle in the soil near a crop row and placed the cup over the paddle to the recommended depth, marked on the cup.  Mark the time on the cup for reading at a later time.  Moist soil should be used for this test.
       A canola crop will provide a burst of respiration by soil animals,--not soil microbes.  This burst of respiration indicates activity of those soil animals that will break down all residue.  (I need more information about this.  --> this crop may make it more difficult to maintain surface residue cover.)

[pic above]  These fields did not have a lot of residue, --somewhere around 40-50% by USDA standards would be my guess.   Jill C. is standing is in an area where a combine stopped, leaving the ground covered with residue.  You can visualize the fan shape of the chaff and straw spread from the green color.  Jill C. commented,--"don't let anyone tell you that residue doesn't save moisture".

[pic above]  Difficult to see because of the computer in front; however, Jill C. is demonstrating the Tracer, in a cradle with it's attached platform and a sandwich bag of soil on the platform.  

This was a very interesting tour, and one I will want to follow in the years to come.  Rhizoterra is adding to the data base on no tillage agriculture and crops to include in a rotation.  My only disappointment was that I expected more evidence and information on cover cropping.  That does not appear to be an emphasis at Rhizoterra.

   

CROP CONDITIONS - 2015

 [Update: 7/24/15] -- I am surprised to see that the June 12th frost event (28 degrees) has hurt the winter wheat on the low ground.  I hadn't expected damage since frost was past the bloom period.  The winter wheat test wt. is reversed from normal years.  56#/bu in the low land which is where we have the best moisture, and 60.5#/bu on the hilltops where we have the least moisture.  The 3 weeks of 100+ degree heat has left it's mark as well.  The mid-November temperature drop/wind event, set the winter wheat up for significant yield loss when frost and heat is added to the mix.
[Update: 7/5/15] --All of the crops in the area are taking a beating from the late frost and heat.  I'm hearing reports of combines in the fields around Spangle --Not Good!  The winter wheat seems to holding up the best.  There will be some shriveled kernels.  Our peas are severely damaged.  I would like to leave large areas unharvested to retain the residue; however, I'm sure the insurance company will require harvesting what crop may be out there.  The jury is out yet on the billy beans, spring wheat, and spring barley, although there is little doubt that yields are being reduced daily.  In the future we may want to push the envelope for early seeding if this heat is going to be the norm.  Our ULD system and heavy residue mat is doing it's job in capturing and saving moisture, but may not be enough to withstand heat this early in the season with a normal seeding date.  I'm observing crops shutting down prematurely. 
     We have been experiencing record and near record heat for the past week and can expect more in the week to come.  All of our crops are showing the effects.  Today we reached 107 at our recording station on the hill, and 111 in the shade of our deck.  I expect we will be harvesting winter wheat by the 20th (maybe earlier) of July.  Rarely do we start before July 29th.  The June 12 frost damaged the spring wheat, spring peas and billy beans.  With no significant rain since the 12th of May, this heat wave is taking it's toll on these crops, as well as our spring barley which did not have frost damage.  The winter wheat appears OK, but I am hearing about grain shrivel.
     Our crops were all seeded in April with the CrossSlot drill.  We had excellent ground cover when seeded.  Will the extra moisture saved through direct seeding into a heavy residue mulch help bring these crops to maturity in better condition than crops planted by a standard cultivation systems.

2014 WHEAT COLLEGE

 [update: 7/5/14]--Thanks to the July 2014 edition of Wheat Life magazine, along with my pic on the cover, I now have the names of the presenters.  They were all connected to Agri-Trend, a Canadian based consulting company.  Phil Thomas(Canola), Elston Solberg, Mike Dolinski, Markus Braaten(wheat).  Markus Braaten is a "master agri-coach" at Agri-Trend with farm clients in eastern Montana.
    
The 2014 Wheat College put on at the Whitman County Fairgrounds, by the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and a number of sponsors was a great success.  It was pretty much a full house.  I was also pleased to see a significant percentage of the participants were the younger generation of farmers in the region.  The meeting organization was not handled well.  Registration was slow, and the handouts were not included in the packet given participants so I didn't get most of them, including the names and bio's of the speakers.
      The following is a paraphrasing of statements, and observations that I found interesting.  This is not a comprehensive listing, and I may add to this post.  There was a lot of good material presented that you had to hear first hand to gain an understanding of how the pieces made the whole.  This was just a taste in a lengthy post.
     ---The information presented on canola was for a spring planting.
     ---When selecting seed, look for: pedigree seed, high % of sound seed, high germ, high 1000kernel weight, high vigor index(CSVI), and low weed content.
     ---In some locations canola is seeded in 3" row spacing.  (row spacing seems to be an individual preference with environmental consideration.)
     ---Canola grows best behind a cereal grain crop.
     ---Phil preferred 7 plants per square foot; however, 2 plants per square foot will make a decent crop of canola, but developing a canopy to capture light energy will be slow resulting in lower yield potential and more weeds. (On reflection, I'm not sure but Phil was using square yard.  Seven per foot is pretty dense.)
     ---Seed for stand count and not pounds per acre.
     ---Canola Seed Vigor Index (CSVI) for hybrids should be 3.5-4.5.   CSVI for open pollinators (OP's) around 3.0)

     ---CSVI = 1000 kernal wt.(grams) times germination divided by 100.  (I need to learn more about this.)

     ---Temperatures above 80 degrees hurts flowering.
     ---Seed early, but after ground temps rise above 34 degrees.  (flowering consideration, canola is quite cold tolerant.)
     ---N/S ratio should be about 6/1. (This ratio is for the form that is available to the crop.  If using elemental S than plan application accordingly)
     ---One square yard of ground needs two square yards of leaf surface for yield potential.
     ---Plant needs to have 80-90% of needed N in the plant by flowering.
     ---Isn't impressed with spodim(sp).  There are varieties that resist shatter.  Harvest timely to avoid shatter.
     ---Canola is a very expressive crop.  Easy to discover source of problem in plant development.

                               The following are wheat related from three presentations.

    ---Much of what we were teaching about how a plant functions ten years ago turns out to be not correct.  (This was a bit shocking to me!  The speakers asked us to think like a plant.  Several comparisons were made between plants and humans relating to health, growth, and nutrition.
     ---In fields, create zones for soil tests.  Don't test randomly and mix for average.
     ---Take complete soil tests, including micro's.  Later, take leaf tests to compare with soil test.
     ---Leaf tests, like blood tests, will tell a lot about the plants health, the soils health, what you did in the past, and should do for the future.  Not much is likely to be corrected for the current crop.
     ---The proper drying order of a plant is from the head down to the first leaf made by the plant.  If lower leaves are desiccated while upper leaves look ok, the plant has a health problem and will not reach it's potential.
      ---When the first node of a wheat plant can be felt(near or at the base of the plant), the head is formed and it's maximum potential is present.  Each spikelet can have up to 12 florets.  Environmental and nutritional factors start reducing that plant potential until the final yield is achieved.  If you can salvage four florets per mesh you are likely to have an outstanding crop.
     ---Melted Urea is softer on a plant than UAN.
     ---N is N!   There is no magic.  Timing of application makes a big difference in the plants ability to use N.
     ---Determining causes for plant symptoms is too extensive for this post.  It was a very interesting exercise and, a process that every grower should gain some knowledgeable.  Significant yield improvements can be gained in a short period of time if the grower scouts his fields regularly and map areas showing yield robbing symptoms to be addressed for this or the next crop.
     ---pH needs to looked at in terms of the Base Saturation of Calcium. (this should have more explanation.)
     ---The head pollinates, develops and ripens from the middle out.
     ---If lower leaves desiccate, it's probably related to N-P or K.
     ---When tissue testing, wait a week, or until a new leaf emerges, after spraying or an environmental event that effects the plant, to collect tissue.
     ---Leaf tissue should include the stem down to the lower leaf.
     ---If a wheat head drops meshes, it's probably due to issues around N-B or copper.
     ---Lightning creates 1/7-1/6 of the N that plants need world wide.
     ---One presenter calculated the dollar value of nutrients that is lost if the crop residue listed below is removed or burned.  These calculations are on an acre basis and using current fertilizer prices.  Wheat $42 and has a C/N ratio of (80/1), Barley $55 (60/1), Oats 57 (60/1), Peas $52 (25/1), Canola $82(30/1), Soybean $97 (25/1).  The bottom line: --the removal of crop residue is costly and robs the ground of OM.
     ---Our soils are very Carbon deficient and OM needs to be added at every opportunity provided and not treated as a problem to be removed.
     ---The McGregor plots showed a massive crop coming on but wasn't going to reach it's potential. Some plants had 8 tillers.  The seeding rate established 14-18 plants per square foot.  The Presenter would have like twice the population, which would have developed many fewer tillers.  When looking at the plants, the Presenter thought that three of the eight were going to make great kernels.  Some of the five remaining tillers will not develop completely, and others will produce small seed of less quality.  These five tillers were consuming water and nutrients that could be used by other plants that would have emerged at the time the parent plant emerged.
     ---It was suggested that growers seed strips for different plant populations and see which works best for them.
     ---High yield potential ground needs high seed populations.  35-40 plants per square foot, and strive for two tillers per plant in a crop that will yield 120-140 bu/ac.   Lower yield potential ground should be scaled back accordingly.
     ---Zink, P and Ca or immobile and need to be placed close to the seed.
     ---N-P-K relocate in the plant if the plant senses the need.
     ---A plant can sense a concentration of a specific nutrient and direct root development to intercept.  (a pic showing roots growing toward a mid-row band.)
     ---A lot of N-P leave the field with the seed, along with small amounts of many other nutrients.
     ---Phosphite is a good form of P to use for plant availability.
   
The older I get the less I know!  With the internets ability to access research from around the world from thousands, if not millions of researchers, it is providing a daunting amount of information for an individual to digest.   The information stream is exceeding the ability of a grower to do the field work and keep up to-date information on subjects that effect his bottom line.  Drones equipped with sensors for crop analysis are becoming part of the agriculture scene and will add to the information about how a crop is doing and what problems may exist.  We are probably past the point where we should hire a professional agronomist/crop specialist to regularly monitor our fields on foot and from above.  Discussion with him/her should include crop types and in what rotation, and recommendations for plant nutrition, and weed suppression, to maximize the return on our respective farms.  I'm getting the idea that our old system of relying on a company man to give herbicide and fertilizer recommendations is outdated and costing us dearly in unattained yield.  For several years I have thought that we are missing something that is costing us yield. Our direct seed system is providing us with more available moisture even if it may be for a short period of time compared to a cultivation based seed system.

PENDLETON,OR. -- LIND, WA. RESEARCH STATIONS

This week I attended two research stations annual tours and updates.  At Pendleton, OR, three topics held my interest.
       ---- Nematodes (Dr.Richard Smiley) appear to be causing yield loss in parts of Whitman County.  Two types attack wheat.  Management methods were presented.  A number of grass and broadleaf cultivars including weeds have been investigated for their tendency to build or not build populations.  Four labs were identified that do the tests.  You need to sample the top 18".  The best sampling is done in the spring when the soil is damp.
      ---- Great presentations were given by Dr.'s D. Long, K. Reardon, H. Gollany, S. Wuest, and S. Machado on soil health and value of residue.  Soil is a living organism that needs to be fed.  The better the diet, the more the soil provides for the cash crop.  Cultivation destroys soil aggregation, and organic matter, resulting in the loss of soil carbon, and reduced infiltration.  A simple demonstration showed a dramatic difference in infiltration rate between soils that had been cropped using cultivation for 70 years, and soils that had been direct seeded for the past 10 years.  OM is rebuilt very slowly.  It's easier to save OM than it is to build OM.   A small percentage increase (we're talking tenths) in OM is very helpful for soil health.
     ---- Dr. D. Wysocki gave report on growing biennial canola.  Seed canola into moisture.  Three seeding dates were studied.  If conditions allowed, early September would be his preferred seeding date. Timing for fertilizer application was studied.  100% at seeding did not work, 100% spring application did not work.  Best response was a split application (Either 50-50 or 75-25 fall and spring).  There was an inquiry about row spacing.  His thinking was that <30" was preferable.  He seeds at 14" because of the drill he uses.

The Lind WAResearch Station had several topics of interest.
     ---- Biological control of cheatgrass and goatgrass was listened to very intently.  Ann Kennedy stated that a bacterium found naturally in the soil has been isolated and found to make the roots of those cultivars less competitive.  The material has been submitted for registration and may be available to growers by 2016.  It is a one application fix that can be sprayed on the soil or attached to the seed.  A pelleted version is being looked at.  It may take 3 years to remove the pests.  Cost is expected to be $10/ac or less.  What a boon for those in a two or three year rotation of small grains and fallow.
        She talked about OM.  We currently have about one third remaining from when this was native prairie.  At Pendleton they indicated that less than a third of the OM remained.  In both regions it is a tremendous loss of carbon content in our soil.
     ----Bill Schillinger reported on growing alternative crops in the low rainfall areas  Camilina, safflower, canola, winter peas, winter triticale.  Camilina grows well in drought conditions, He prefers to plant in March to reduce weed population.  Safflower is an option but needs to be seeded late when soil temperature is warm.  Harvest is in late September.  There seems to be unlimited possibilities to market oil seeds.  Winter peas has shown promise.  He likes winter triticale because of its fast growth when soil temperatures warm and the residue it provides.  Except for triticale, none of the mentioned cultivars produced enough residue for any cultivation in the fallow year.  Wind erosion would be serious.
     ---- Several speakers spoke on wheat related subjects.  Falling Numbers:  Two causes-- a) temperature shock while kernel is filling.  Either a high or low temperature spike can be a cause.  Rain on a mature plant can be a cause.  There are cultivars that are more prone to falling numbers than others.
     ---- Sprinter is a good yielding and quality wheat.  There is confusion about its class, so notify your warehouseman and / or buyer prior to growing it.

Cold Soil and Direct Seeding

I've happened on to a project (1994-2009) called the Alberta Reduced Tillage Inititive (ARTI).  This project had many partnerships, including private, public, and education.  They studied many aspects of Direct Seeding (DS) including effects of cold soils.  The following URL access' their site.
                          http://www.reducedtillage.ca/about.aspx
     This is a big site.  One study indicates that tall standing stubble (stripper header) warmed faster than the short stubble mat left by regular platform header,  and allowed better seed/soil contact with disc type opener.
     I will update this post as I have time to read other studies.