POST HARVEST REVIEW OF 2014

     SUMMARY:  This year started out as a great opportunity to see if heavy surface residue and standing stubble would hold moisture for crop development that normally would evaporate into the atmosphere.  Recognizing that spring crops would be insurance claims from the get-go, being late in their seeding was not a big concern.  As it turns out I can't make any real judgement about what heavy tall residue may have contributed to the crop.  (In short, a wasted year)   The abundant June rain skewed everything.  As we came out of winter I expected nothing for a spring crop, and got something.  Others, in some cases, did better.  If June had been like January through April I think the timely seeded spring crops would have been toast and we would still be where we are.  Having seeded close to the middle of May, we still had abundant stored moisture by mid June.  The June rain allowed our barley to stay in the vegetative stage longer, developing more tillers.  The main stem of our barley was hurt but did fairly well.  The first tiller contributed a little to yield.  The remaining tillers, for the most part, just used nutrients and moisture and slowed harvest with no contribution to yield.  The spring wheat is less determinable.  There were fewer tillers.  The main stem showed some damage as well as the first tiller.  The second through fourth tillers, in places, contributed to yield.   It's interesting to speculate what this SWSW crop would have yielded had it been seeded timely.
         Our winter wheat was very near WSU's trial average for the rainfall area.  48 sites.  From what I hear our SWWW was a little better than most of the fields around me.
         Our spring wheat was right at WSU's trial average for the rainfall area, even though it was planted a month later.  42 sites.  We appeared to be a little lower than neighboring fields near me.
         Our spring barley (no WSU data available now) was, I'm sure, low by any standard.  There was no barley raised near our field for comparison.
                                         CONCLUSIONS
         --- Delete this year from mental calculations for future crop planning.  I read this from several sources, and agree.
         --- High rainfall areas and associated soils are much more forgiving than the low rainfall areas to less optimal conditions including seeding date.
         --- Don't expect moisture, whether stored, or saved through the growing season, to recover potential yield loss from late seeding.  Plants can't draw moisture fast enough, regardless of availability, in high heat environment.  (an affirmation of past research and experience.)
        --- It appears that even in drought years, spring small grain crops will do better with high seed rates.  This deters tillering.  Each tiller takes about a week to develop, so every tiller potentially delays maturity a week.
        --- I think that if we would have had stubble left standing following last falls seeding of winter wheat, that would have given enough protection for the crop to have endured the December blast with less damage.

     BACKGROUND:
       --- The September 1, 2013 to August 31st, 2014 moisture was a total of just over 8" (that included the December/January snowfall that mostly went down the creek (check label titled moisture for details), and the nearly 2" received in mid May and the month of June.  That is a long ways off our 15-17" historical average.
       ---The fall of 2013 was dry, causing spotty emergence of the fall wheat in the area-- including ours.  We expected 100% and didn't get it.
       --- Mid December we experienced high winds from the northeast with temperatures dipping to single digits for several days, and no snow cover.
       --- There was very little moisture received over the winter and spring of 2014.
       --- In mid February we experienced a quick warmup on frozen ground with a thin (1-3") snow cover.   Within 2 hours, the snow cover was mostly gone, and nearly all the water left the fields causing creek rise and minor flooding in areas.
       --- Mid May provided ≈ 0.5" rain, and June provided us with 1.54" of moisture.  Most of it in three days mid month.
      --- Third week of June started very warm and quickly got hot that lasted well into August without any real break.  Wind accompanied the heat for many of those days.
      DETAIL:
       --- Winter Wheat: (15-17"rainfall area) Averaged 77 bu/ac. (Brundage 96)  Most of the field was a long north facing slope.  These slopes had fair residue, but very little was standing.  This condition limited protection for the December event and the growing crop showed significant burn.  Spring recovery and development was slow. We had an anomaly in one corner of the field.  It apparently received some protection, from the cold blast of wind, behind a north facing high ridge.  This  rectangular area (≈70ac) had a flat area broken up with three low hills.  This area averaged over 100 bu/ac and ranged as high as 140 bu/ac.
       --- Spring Barley: (15-17" rainfall area) Average 3/4 tn/ac.  Two fields.  Both with southern exposures.  Seeded at 100#/ac Lenetah a month later than optimal.
                CRP field had excellent stored moisture.  The field was clipped in 2013, so little standing residue, and some dirt showing.
                The barley on barley field had good moisture.  The previous yield was 1.5 tn/ac.  It had a lot of residue on the ground and the stubble (high density) was standing.  It yielded a 100#/ac more than the CRP.
                 We also had a separate small flat 12 ac CF field that was seeded to barley.  This area had a fantastic stand, seeded at 122#/ac.  It's yield was 1.25 tn/ac.
         ---Spring Wheat: (18-20"rainfall area)  These were seeded a month later than optimal at 100#/ac of Diva.
                Field-1 was embarrassing to watch the whole growing season but ended up yielding the best (50b/a).  Mustard was raised last year.  Poor residue cover, and little standing.  Field had balanced aspects of high/low, north south east west slopes.  Eroded areas got hard, so stand started out spotty.
                Field-2 was primarily a long south slope with a big flat.  Average yield of 46 bu/ac.  Tremendous surface residue on much of the flat with dense standing barley stubble.  There was some fallow ground where we did ditch work last year.  The high ground also had good surface residue and dense standing standing stubble. Areas of the flat went over 100 bu/ac, but dropped quickly with elevation.  The emergence looked good all over.
                 Field-2 was fairly well balanced with high/low, north south east west aspects.  Always considered this field the poorest of the three.  It yielded 43 bu/ac.  Good residue on the surface except on eroded ridges.  Good standing barley residue except on the eroded ridges.  The emergence looked good.

CROSS-SLOT DRILL KIT?

[Updated 9/19/14]  
I have received two questions about our drill.  I'll address them on this post.
                                   ---- Did our drill come as a kit?
                                   ---- Did Cross-slot help us with the design?
     No!--- the drill did not come as a kit.  You have the option of purchasing a complete drill unit from Baker No-Tillage Limited, or, buy a retrofit package with as many openers as you desire and put them on a locally made frame.  There are many options offered in a retrofit order.  Study the proposal sheet and understand the terms while working up an order.  AgPro of Lewiston, ID. currently builds frames for cross-slot openers.  They have their own suggested frame design, or will build to your specification.
       For info about our drill see post of 5/3/14.

     Yes!--- Baker No-Tillage Limited did help us with the design.  The basic design(look) is one they use -- we viewed pictures and copied the look.   They are very good about sharing component information.  The material type, size and dimensions associated with our drill is our design decision.  We sized the drill to fit our tractor.  That was only marginally successful.  I set a goal for a tare weight of 18K.  It went out of the shop at 24K.  This summer we added 1k on each wing making it 26k, --- and, maybe growing.
       Gavin Porter is the company representative for the US and is very accessible and helpful. His cell number is 509-595-5782

       

SEEDING WINTER CANOLA- AUGUST 19, 2014

 [Update 10/31/14] -- see updated to post titled "CHEMICAL FALLOW", 7/22/14
        This is our first serious attempt at seeding canola (winter or spring).  We have started out with Amanda.  With the new ultra slow seed transmission, we have easily accomplished 3 pounds per acre.         -----The crop is being seeded on 20" row spacing, using the front gang of openers.  The back gang is being locked in the high position with no product being put through them.
-----We have switched the deep band fertilizer tubes with the starter and are adding ≈ 25gpa of water in the area where the seed should be.  We are putting down some P in the deep band.  We probably should have added B as well.
-----I have yet to find one seed.  I wish the seed was dyed yellow.  The yellow mustard was not hard to find.  We are relying entirely on the opener position and what the electronics are telling us.  The seed roll is moving too slow, and the volume to low, to be seen easily with the mounted camera.
-----We are putting the seed at 2.5" depth.  The moisture is thinning out on the ridge lines.  We're hoping that the added water will help emergence.  The lower slopes have better moisture closer to the surface.
-----The residue is tall and heavy.  The openers are maintaining depth much better than I was expecting, even though the ADF system is not working properly.  Baker Ind. has to work on better reliability of that system.  It's getting irritating.  The residue is no problem to penetrate.  The hydraulic valves for the back gang have to be upgraded.  The openers slowly leak down and grab residue and quickly make an unsightly pile.  Kye has had very few working openers plug and drag.
-----With only one half of the openers in the ground, much of the stubble is left standing.  This should be helpful for winter survival of the winter canola crop.
-----We have divided our seed hopper into two 29bu bins.
-----We are seeding ≈ 30ac of canola (RR), on 20" spacing using the front row of openers.  The back row of openers will be seeding a spring pea on 20" rows at ≈ 75 pounds per acre.  The intent is to use the legume to produce N for the canola.  This, as it turns out, is more complex than I imagined.  It's not just growing peas to their maximum nodulation and killing them for later release of the N produced.  I'll do more research and make some decisions before the peas reach bloom this fall.  Right now we hope to get emergence along with the canola.
-----There will be upgrades to this post.
-----I will write another post on "GROWING NITROGEN" in the near future.

Pic above shows seeding winter canola on winter wheat stubble that was harvested with a stripper header.  

HOBO Temperature Sensors

[Update 4/8/16] --Removed sensors so Kye could drill the field yesterday and replaced them today at 1:30pm.  I'm down to 5 sensors in two locations.  The heavy mowed residue site has three (#6@ 3", #9@1", #4 in the air near surface).  The bare earth site has #7@1",  #8 in the air near surface. [#8 was in tall stubble but drilling dragged all material away.
[Update 2/24/16] --Launched two sensors for air temperature just above the soil surface, --#8 in the tall stubble, --#4 in mowed area.  Should have thought of this earlier, but the thought never surfaced until a farmer suggested that tall stubble may have trapped cold temperature to the point of reducing the survival of his winter canola.  I have my doubts but there is no reason not to check it out.  Another sensor (#11) was carried off by some animal.  I found it about 30' from its flagged location (that was luck).  I have no idea of how long it was on  the surface but I have put it back in the ground in the tall stubble, --which is mostly been flattened from winter weather of wind and a little snow.  The roots are rotting, or being eaten off and allowing the plant to tip over when the forces of wind, water, snow engulf them.  This sensor in the tall stubble has not been bothered in the past as those out in the open have.  Now that it is exposed it is experiencing similar attention from critters.  I'm going to have to stake and tie these sensors more securely in the future.
[Update 1/8/16] -- Relaunched sensors from being pulled out in November.  The sensors were set for readings every 2hrs instead of 1hr.  --#1 is located under #7(bare grnd) for temperature reading ≈3" deep.  # 8 was not relaunched (couldn't locate plank).  #6 is under #9 (under heavy mowed residue).  #3 under #10 (standing residue w light surface residue).  Replaced snow cover.  Soft frost found at (bare grnd) site.
[Update 7/27/15] -- #11 HOBO has disappeared.  It is being replaced today with #E7.  It appears that the crows/ravens are drawn by the bright fluttering flags used to mark the location of the HOBO's.  They haven't bothered the flag in the tall stubble, but all flags in the mowed areas are decimated, and I can only assume they packed off the small HOBO sensor.
[Update 6/14/15] -- placed four HOBO's (#8-9-10-11) (8am, 6/14/15), in Ee field.  #8 is placed under white board on grnd that had been bared.  #9 is placed in very heavy residue that was mowed.  #10 is placed in standing residue with little surface cover.  #11 is placed in bare grnd that had been scraped clean of residue.  All the sensors are placed near each other, and vertical at the surface.
     Intention is to pull them for readings on the 22nd prior to the drill demo,  then again this fall when the field is seeded.  We'll take moisture samples at that time as well.
[Update 6/4/15] -- pulled #1 through 7 to download.  No data was recovered.  A wasted 6m.
[Update 10/30/14] -- pulled and downloaded sensors ≈ Oct. 23 and replaced them on Oct 30th.  Units #6&7 were switched when placed back in the soil.
This past year I have been playing with temperature sensors with the intent of quantifying the impact that the stripper header, and residue on the soil surface has on seed zone temperatures.  Last year I played around with them to get an idea of what they were capable of.  These units can be left in the field to collect data for a lengthy period of time.  You can down-load the data on a computer and graph in many different ways.   This summer I'm starting over with all the HOBO's positioned vertically with the top of the unit at the soil surface.  Seven total.  At the time of placement I took the soil temperature of each location as a start point.  I will update this post when something of interest pops up or at season end.

    ------[field Es]-- Two units are in a chemical fallow field with heavy residue that is totally flat to the ground. One of these units is placed in an area of heavy residue(#7) where no dirt can be seen.  At 2" my soil thermometer indicated 82 degrees.  The other one was place where dirt could be seen at the surface(#6).  The temperature at that spot was 90 degrees. This field location has a slight slope to the north.

     ------[field Ee]--Three units were placed in a chemical fallow field that was stripper headed.  There is heavy residue with stubble standing approximately 36" tall.  One unit was placed in a combine wheel track where there was some dirt showing and the residue was pressed flat to the ground (#3).  The combine had duels mounted close together, so the track is wide.  The temperature at that site was 96 degrees.  A second unit was located in an area with tall standing stubble and no residue covering the ground surface (#1).  The temperature at that site was 80 degrees.  The third unit was placed in a location that had tall standing stubble and also had the ground surface covered with residue (#4).  The temperature at that site was 72 degrees.  This field location is flat

     ----- [field En]--Two units were placed in a growing spring barley field.  The barley is only around 22" tall and fairly thin.  One unit place in heavy residue (#2).  The temperature at that site was 82 degrees.  The other unit was placed whee there was no ground surface cover (#5).  The temperature at that site was 84 degrees.  This field location has a slight slope to the south.

        SUMMARY:

     --- In field Es I was surprised that there was so little difference in the temperature between the two sites.  Did the flattened residue have an impact???

     ---In field Ee I was surprised that the wheel track showed such a high temperature compared to the other two sites.  The wheel track was more compacted.  Did that influence the temperature???  The tall stubble seems to be impacting the temperature compared to the field with the flattened residue.

     ---In field En I was surprised that the temperature was so similar between the two sites.  Does a growing crop influence the surface temperature more than the surface residue???

CHEMICAL FALLOW

[Update 6/14/16] -- All of the winter canola died during the winter.  It didn't make any difference whether is was platter size or just emerging.  We planted SW on most of the acres and Billy Beans on the remainder.  Both crops received heavy damage from a June 12th, 28 degree night, --not a great year.  The spring peas was the only crop damaged to the extent that multi peril crop insurance kicked in. [Update 10/30/14] -- Finally all our WW has emerged.  It appears that we will get most of the canola out of the ground.  We had all the pieces in place for this kind of summer and fall, but we didn't execute very well.  We got about 40% of the canola emerged timely in mid-late August, and about 50-60% of the winter wheat emerged timely mid September.  We currently have 70-85% of the canola emerged, but other than the plants emerged timely in August, it's doubtful the remainder will survive the winter.  It is still emerging.  Post analysis:  The hot weather, lack of good early soil profile moisture allowed seed depth moisture to thin earlier than expected.  The "best" residue areas were OK, but "good" residue was not.   We should have seeded the canola at the end of July instead of mid August, and we should have seeded the winter wheat a week earlier (end of August instead of first part of September).  If the ADF system had been working consistently, we may have still got 80-90% of each crop emerged timely.  Weed pressure is low in both crops.  
        We may have an opportunity to see what the yield loss may be between timely emerged wheat and that which emerged 30+ days late.   Years ago when I was regularly seeding the second week of October, I estimated that I consistently lost 15-20 bushels per acre compared to some of the neighbors.
[Update 9/20/14]
       --- Soil that has cover is noticeably cooler, and moisture stays in the seed zone longer in the fall.  It appears to be proportionate from 0 to 100% cover as to where the moisture line is at any given point of time in the fall.  Observation this fall supports an earlier post about a 1970's unpublished research project (Soil Moisture posted 8/19/12).

          I have started observing and digging in various fallow fields to see the differences that may show.        I have been in a limited number of fields to date, but what I am finding is what I have learned to expect.  "If you see dirt you don't have enough residue".  We have had, over the last two weeks, high temperatures (high 90's and a few over 100) accompanied with a lot of wind.
         Conventional fallow is hot and dried as deep as it is worked.  One field was worked shallow (≈2") and moisture was thinning below the worked area.  Another field was worked to 4"and to a finer texture and when moisture was reached it was good.  Powder dry and no (0%) residue, both of these fields will likely endure severe wind and water erosion before the crop is harvested in 2015.
         The chemical fallow fields in the area are either mowed short or have thin short stubble following harvest.  In both scenarios, they have insufficient residue to hold moisture in the seed zone.  The fields I checked were dry to ≈1.5" and thinning moisture below.  Without added moisture, it will be difficult to get a stand of winter canola, and by fall, it will be difficult to get a stand of winter wheat.
        In contrast, our field that will be seeded to winter canola, is in great shape.  We have a thick mat of residue on the soil surface, and standing stubble (36").  The soil is cool and the wind has not been whipping across the surface.  The combination of surface residue and tall stubble leaves us, currently, with moisture within 0.5", and much of the area has moisture at the soil surface.  There are holes in the field where the moisture is deeper, but 95% of the field is great at this point in time.
        We have another fallow field.   Part of the field was mustard in 2013, but the majority is CRP that we started the takeout process in July 2013.   I am including some pics with narrative to explain what I viewed.  It's notable that  the soil surface of this field whether crop or CRP is full of worm castings.

The pic above shows a lot of residue but there are significant holes in long narrow strips where dirt shows through.   A guestimate would be 90% coverage, maybe 95%.  The 2013 crop was mustard that yielded below average.  It was seeded into very dense 2012 standing winter wheat stubble with a cross-slot drill.   The area in this pic was over 120bu/a.  Without ground disturbance the winter wheat (Brundage 96) stubble has stayed pretty good.  There is no mustard residue to be seen by the casual eye.  The mustard stalks were mowed following harvest.  The operation was mainly cosmetic.  With all our residue from 2012 the mowing appears to not have hurt the moisture bank.

This pic shows one of the narrow strips mentioned above where dirt was visible.  There is residue in these spots, but you see dirt.  You can see the moisture line, and it is 1.5" below the soil surface.  You can also see what is probably the transition zone where moisture is thinning.  With no standing stubble, and inadequate residue, this spot took the full force of wind and sun.  1.5" below surface is where I found the moisture line in all the chem. fallow fields where I looked.  In all likely hood, the moisture line will continue to drop.  We are in the third week of July.  It's a long time to our normal seeding date.  Rain will be needed to start a crop this fall.  The dry looking crumble soil is all worm castings.

This pic shows the condition of most of the field.  It's included in the first pic above.  Heavy mat of residue, but no standing stubble.  The moisture line is at the surface, and it is good moisture --not thinned.  This demonstrates that residue can hold moisture and armor against high temperatures and high winds in Uhlig class soil.  The down side is, that this level of surface cover will be challenging to maintain.  

This pic is typical of the CRP/fallow that comprises most of this field.  Good residue; however, it's inadequate to hold moisture . The top 3-5" of soil  is made up almost entirely of worm castings.  They have been working without interruption for 26 years.  The moisture line on this hilltop is at 1.0".  That is better than standard chem fallow but not as good as heavy residue shown in pic above.  If you look closely, you can see dirt among the standing residue.  The standing residue is only about 12-16" tall, and much of the surface shows dirt.  

         This is a good piece of property and we are excited to start enhancement of the microbiological community that's underfoot.  This field is our best opportunity to develop a sustainable cropping system.  25 years of CRP is the kick start.  Now we have to gain the knowledge and wisdom to work out a crop rotation, and develop a plan to incorporate cover crops where practical, and possibly inter-seed an alternate crop with our cash crop, and hopefully in the not too distant future, remove fallow from the system in this 15-17" rainfall zone.

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.