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Canola Council of Canada

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• Mother Nature Delivered Some Heat

  Mother Nature Delivered Some Heat Hot, dry conditions prevailed across the prairies last week which helped advance crop development. In Manitoba, swathing is generally well underway with approximately 60 to 75% of the crop already cut in most areas, but some parts of the northwest and Interlake region are still just beginning. Combining of earliest [...]

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• Rain with Some Hail

  Most areas got some rain late in the week and over the weekend slowing field operations temporarily. Rain showers were variable with most areas receiving a couple of tenths to ¾ of an inch. Heavier storms resulted in as much as 3 inches in parts of southwestern Manitoba, near Athabasca Alberta and in the Peace [...]

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• Be Patient, Wait for Adequate Seed Colour Change

  Generally producers are waiting for adequate seed colour change before swathing but there have been reports of producers cutting fields too green. Avoid the urge to swath too early, especially under high temperatures (upper 20’s to 30’s or more). If hot, windy conditions continue, rapid dry-down of the plant material will not allow for proper [...]

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• No Killing Frost – Yet

  The first fall frost (killing frost) has not happened yet anywhere in western Canada and to date no frost appears to be in the forecast. So far this is giving the later canola a chance to fill and ripen naturally. Producers for the most part appear to be able to wait for 60% seed colour [...]

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• Is That Crop Ripening or Is That Sclerotinia?

  There are many reports of sclerotinia in parts of Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan. In some fields, there is a significant amount of sclerotinia (up to 95% incidence). As sclerotinia infection progresses, plants begin to senesce prematurely, which may make the field appear riper than it actually is. Always use seed colour change as the gauge [...]

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• Anchoring Short Canola Stands

  Wind storms in southern and central Alberta have caused a substantial amount of swath scattering in some fields. It is important to anchor canola swaths against wind, especially this year because of low plant stands and shortened crop height. To reduce potential losses from swaths blowing, keep the following recommendations in mind. Swath parallel to [...]

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• Protect Your Investment

  Combining of canola is beginning in the earliest fields in the southern prairies. Reports so far indicate that canola seed moisture content is ‘dry’ (below 10%). It is important to remember that canola storage can be a concern even at seed moisture levels considered dry when the canola is binned at high temperatures or when [...]

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• Missing Seed or Missing Pods – What Happened?

  As harvest gets underway across the prairies there are the usual questions about missing pods on a plant and missing seeds within pods. Missing pods means that something interrupted the plant’s development at flowering. Several stresses can cause blank spots where pods should form such as environmental stress (frost, extremely high temperatures during flowering, drought, [...]

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