By Maegan Mackimmie
Farmers are slowly starting to get their fields planted, but conditions vary widely across the province. As we head into June, the later planting date will influence variety choices, population rates, and disease concerns. Marty Vermey, Grain Farmers of Ontario senior agronomist has been in the southern and western part of the province over the past couple of weeks, and made some field observations.
Marty found that some areas had ground planted and some areas had no field work done at all. If you averaged it, about a third of the ground is planted, another third has been worked, and the rest hasn’t been touched. There has been water laying in fields in many counties.
As we see the glassy shine on the fields and know that fields are saturated with three to six inches of rain on it, our thoughts turn to how will the recently planted crop emerge. Every field will be different, and those with good soil heath and porosity will fair better. But as the soils dry, we need to keep an eye on the activity of the seed beneath the surface, evaluate if a crust is forming, and notice how tight the soils are. If the seedling is being held back by a crust or tight soils, remediation may be required.
Marty Vermey, the Grain Farmers of Ontario senior agronomist will continue to make updates throughout the season. Further field observations can be found online in the Ontario Grain Farmer magazine, produced by Grain Farmers of Ontario at: www.ontariograinfarmer.ca.
If you are feeling stressed this planting season, Grain Farmers of Ontario has resources available by visit: www.gfo.ca/farmerhealth.
