What Worked, What Didn’t for 2003 Small Grain Crop

By Jason Hanson, Certified Crop Advisor, jhanson@agriliance.com

Here is a list of things that influenced small grains in 2003, as I see it.  Of course, the success of production management treatments and practices varied geographically and with the weather.  Something that turned out rosy on your farm might have been pushing up daisies (or spurge) somewhere else. 

Things that worked for the 2003 small grain crop

1. The use of good quality seed and use of seed treatment were an advantage over the use of lesser quality seed and no treatment. With a large area of the small grain area getting planted into wet cool soil and the persistent spring showers that kept the ground cool and damp, good seed and seed treatments paid off, holding off soil diseases and resulting in good even emergence overall.

2. Frequent rains early were a major contributing factor in getting great, uniform stands. Some crop that was seeded into lumpy or dried out seed beds were helped out by timely rains that helped the seed to soil contact and seed moisture needs.

3. The use of fungicides were a contributing factor in making a good crop. The early applications of Stratego, Tilt, Propimax, or Headline helped in keeping the plant healthy and disease free from diseases like tan spot early on. Some wheat varieties really needed it with the early moisture this season wetting the canopy. There were some fields that you could tell the line of treated vs. untreated with the early application of fungicide. The later applications of Folicur for head scab and late season disease suppression helped in situations where there was increased disease pressure. Test weights and yields were improved even in low to moderate disease pressure situations. Keeping a good stand disease free this year put bushels in the bin.

4. With the early season moisture and warm conditions in July, the overall weed control this season was pretty good. Weeds were actively growing and with a moderate temperature season, herbicides performed well. Both contact and systemic products had a good year for controlling weeds. The only drawback might be that early applications might have missed the second flush of weeds due to timing of spray.

5. A dry harvest season was a real welcome, as it made for a quick harvest with very little quality issues as compared to last year. Getting a crop off dry and in good shape is worth quite a bit of money.

6. Soil test levels are relatively low as compared to following years, as that would indicate a good crop pulled off these fields (that may not be the case in drought-stricken areas). Although nitrogen is again relatively high in price and the market is volatile, fertilizing for high yields and high protein paid off for many this year.

7. Post-applied nitrogen seems to have paid off. Fields looked a little pale before application but with the amount of early rains, those fields perked right up and were off to the races. I have heard that most post-applied nitrogen was the same as, or better than, the conventional application methods of spring and fall applied.

Things that didn’t work so well in 2003

1. With the shift in acres to glyphosate tolerant crops, we are seeing weeds shifts to harder-to-control weeds. One of those is wild buckwheat, and it is getting to be very widespread. Wild buckwheat can and does emerge after a little shot of rain and if that happened after your application of small grain herbicide, we just reseeded more acres to wild buckwheat. This weed is a tougher one for glyphosate to take out and with later germination going on in small grains, we are seeing bigger issues with wild buckwheat.

2. More issues with ACC-ase wild oat herbicides and the spread of wild oat resistance to these products. The repeated use of these herbicides has selected out some areas that have huge issues with this chemistry. With the amount of acres of barley and wheat put in this year, it’s easy and simple to use Puma on all those acres. But there might be some wheat fields that would warrant Everest or Assert on barley. With Fargo and Buckle not used on as many acres as the past, we have narrowed our useful products in some areas of the small grain production area.

3. Another thing that did not really work that well at times was getting product. With good, promising conditions, people were investing money to get that great crop. So there were shortages of some popular crop protection products, like Starane, Propimax, Puma, Folicur, Achieve, Bronate Advanced and others. Just-in-time inventory from grower to manufacturer makes for shortages when so much crop gets planted in a small window.

4. There was some aphid concern that hit the small grain crop early and there was some spraying that went on. The thresholds were there to pay for spraying, but populations crashed quickly also. The whole insect decision this year was tough because of the money already spent, but I have not heard of great differences in treated versus untreated.

5. Late-seeded crop didn’t fair as well as early-seeded grain, as the late-season heat in July really beat up the yield potential. Wheat, barley, durum or oats still respond, on the average, better to that early seeding. Getting the crop through the critical stages with cool weather and moisture helps to push yield, so early seeding this year was a huge advantage.

Hanson is a certified crop advisor near Devils Lake, N.D.