I checked out the Blighty and West Jerilderie group crops in mid-June, and the Berrigan and East Jerilderie group crops later in the month.
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Following are my findings.
The host crops look great.
Monitoring visits to the four Finley Discussion Group host crops since the group meetings showed the crops have high yield potential.
All the crops had excellent subsoil moisture.
The Blighty crops had probe moisture at 70cm, West Jerilderie at 50cm in mid-June and East Jerilderie 60cm and Berrigan 85cm at the end June.
Weed control from pre-emergent herbicides is great.
Canola:
Canola sown on moisture in April emerged in five to seven days, compared to 15 to 28 days last year.
Plant counts were 19, 20, 28, 36 and 46, averaging 30 plants/m2.
The popular Clearfield 44Y94 variety, Dynatron and Bonito started elongating in mid-June.
Canola observed at the end June had elongated to the 10cm to 25cm long internode stage.
Most crops had at least a 90 per cent ground cover at the start of elongation - one of the checks for high yields.
The early emergence is likely to result in early flowering.
There are odd stems flowering in paddocks around the district.
Biomass is linked to yield, and the last urea topdressing should be two to three weeks before flowering.
Canola needs 80kg of nitrogen per tonne (174kg urea/tonne).
A 3t crop needs 522kg urea/ha from soil and fertiliser.
The canola Deep N soil tests of the host farms ranged from 40kg N/ha (87kg urea/ha) to 138kg N/ha (300kg urea/ha).
If dryland crops receive good rains in spring, there will be some N soil mineralisation estimated at 25kg N/ha (55kg urea/ha), and it’s estimated that for each spring flood or spray sequence irrigation soil mineralisation can be 20-30kg N/ha.
I finally tracked down John Angus.
He said topdressing up to 200kg or 300kg urea/ha in one go is okay for canola, preferably when you know there is going to be enough rainfall or irrigation to finish the crop.
The optimum time for the start of canola flowering is July 27.
It’s important you record the date when at least one flower has opened on the main stem of 50 per cent of plants.
The high value of canola will result in most farmers spraying fungicide as a preventative to reduce sclerotinia.
The fungicides are best applied when there is 20 to 30 per cent bloom, and 15 to 20 open flowers on the main stem.
Wheat:
A Kittyhawk grazing and grain wheat crop sown on April 5 had 90 per cent ground cover and high tillering at the end June, with ewe and lamb grazing started on May 22.
Wheat crops were healthy, and some crops still had the first two leaves intact.
One Sherriff CL crop, where the paddock was disced to kill off self-sown canola, had stacks of slaters under the clods not causing any damage.
Crops ranged from three leaf sown late May to three tillers sown in the first week of May.
Wheat, mainly Scepter, was sown at 75kg to 80kg/ha with a Vixen crop sown at 110kg/ha.
The Deep N tests showed most nitrogen was in the top 30cm.
Wheat has only a low N requirement up to the first node stage.
John Angus said the urea efficiency of topdressing wheat improves slightly from the three leaf stage to booting stage.
Plant counts for a dryland wheat crop was 107 plants/m2, and Planet barley was 138 plants/m2.
Counts for irrigated crops were 113, 126, 154 and 258 plants/m2.
Wheat needs 60kg N/tonne (130kg urea/ha). For 5t/ha, 650kg urea/ha is needed from soil and fertiliser.
The soil Deep Ns of the wheat and barley paddocks ranged from 44kg N/ha (95kg urea/ha) to 158kg N/ha (343kg/ha of urea).
Tiller counts are an accurate guide to topdressing nitrogen.
For 5t/ha, 500 shoots (count one metre row x 100 and divide by row width) needs 60kg to 75kgN (130kg to 160kg urea) topdressed at the first node, and 600 shoots/m2 at the first node stage needs a topdressing of 60kg N/ha(130kg urea).
Scepter is rated MS-S for stripe rust and S (susceptible) for Septoria.
Sheriff CL is S for both.
These varieties will probably need a fungicide for control.
Calibre and Wedgetail are rated MS for stripe rust, so keep an eye on your crops. They are rated S and MS for Septoria.
Beckom is MR-MS so if it is the same as last year very few crops will need a fungicide.
Barley:
Planet is rated MS-S and S to the net blotch fungus net form, and S-VS to the spot form.
Spartacus is rated MR and S to the net blotch net form, and S-VS to the spot form.
Keep an eye out for the start of spots, blotches or dark brown streaks on your crops and spray fungicide to avoid loss.
Organic matter:
I asked John Angus about the high organic matter soil tests.
He said if the soil sample has a tiny bit of root or stem stubble, they will inflate the tests. I will check up on our samples.
Spring irrigation:
With the way the season is going, there may be off-allocation of water in August.
Irrigation farmers should plan for a minimum of two spring flood irrigations and equivalent in spray irrigations.
High yielding crops have a high water requirement.
The spring rainfall and subsoil moisture for dryland crops was so good last year they weren’t far behind in yield.
Group meetings:
Group meetings will be held in in August or early September to assess soil moisture and root length using my unique auger.
We will discuss optimum watering crop stages, topdressing and crop potential.
~ John Lacy (pictured) is a FInley-based independent agricultural consultant.
Founder, Finley Discussion Group