Journey to 100 Canola Bushels - Part 2
July is over and it feels like the summer is flying by. The crops are accelerating through the growth stages and it has been a rush to keep up with them. Everything is looking ahead of normal.
Plant growth through the vegetative stage has been very quick, therefore the demand for nutrients has been high and fast. Yara was able to get the nutrients as planned on the field where we have embarked on the 100 Canola Bushels Challenge. As we strive to eliminate the hidden hunger with nutrients and ensure sufficiency, it is crucial to get the nutrition on at the right stage to ensure feeding through vegetative growth. Upon analysis of tissue tests, in conjunctions with plan, we determined that applications of P, K, B and Mo were necessary. We used products YaraVita HYDROPHOS, YaraVita SAFE K, YaraVita BORTRAC, and YaraVita MOLYTRAC prior to bolting to address these nutrient needs. Prior to bolting was used as application timing to ensure we had adequate nutrient supply through the vegetative growth and into flowering.
As can be seen in the tissue samples, we have taken steps to address the need for potassium by adding YaraVita SAFE K at the 6 leaf stage. Potassium is crucial for the regulation of water within the plant through transpiration. This is critical this season as we experience less than normal rainfall and plants are needing to tolerate longer stretches without adequate moisture. The majority of Potassium is taken into plant roots via diffusion (78%) and most of remainder through mass flow (20%), with final portion (2%) being through root interception. With the plant relying so much of potassium entering plant through the movement of water and the nutrient in the plant, it is very important that this nutrient gets attention during a season when water is limited.
Knowing that boron may have been an issue in this field based off soil tests and plant demands, we decided to take a multi-pronged approach to addressing this nutrient, which included the use of YaraVita PROCOTE B at seeding time to allow for supply throughout growing season and then an application of YaraVita BORTRAC in season to boost content during peak demand. It is good to see that the treatment side is showing positive effects of this plan.
We are continuing to monitor and the biggest obstacle continues to be moisture. Rain is coming, but it isn’t always in the time that we would like. General rains have been hard to come by this season and its come to relying on afternoon/evening showers, which are spotty and come with their own risk after a hot, humid day. I am confident though, that because we are doing our best to keep these plants fed and working efficiently that they are being more efficient with every drop of water available to them.
Here is the analysis of tissue samples from the challenge field and the from the check field.
The pictures below show the field at early flower stage. There was a line in the field with the check on left and challenge on the right. Upon closer inspections, the challenge field was not showing any signs of nutrition problems whereas the check portion did have some early pods lost, even at this stage.
It will be interesting to follow up and see what final pod formation looks like and see if this continues. This could be the result of a lack of proper boron nutrition along with the constriction of water movement due to limited potassium fertility.
It’s getting more and more exciting as we watch this crop grow. We had that excellent start, and a fantastic plant stand. As with many others in the prairies, we are wanting to get more moisture and prefer it not to be in the ice form. We are looking forward to providing another update showing the crop after flowering.
