What’s Up?
Seeding time for grains is just over and our research plots with grains are seeded and already emerging! We seeded 6 plots to wheat and two to soybeans with our John Deere 1590 single disk drill. The plots are now ready for a summer of testing and comparison.
Wheat:
Our wheat is AC® Carberry that was seeded on May 22nd into pea stubble with a soil temperature of 16.8 C at an ambient temperature of 23 C. Our disc style drill cut through nicely with no plugging and extremely low soil movement. This avoided a straw management pass.
Seeding Date: May 22
Soil Temperature: 16.8 degrees C
Target Depth: 1 inch
The wheat was seeded into excellent moisture. There have been two rain events since and the crop is in excellent shape. Wild oat pressure is very strong.
Our six 5 acre Wheat plots are:
Plot 1 – “Control” Wheat using the current conventional no-till method in crop grass and broadleaf control
Plot 2- Wheat: Conventional no-till plus Compost Tea and in crop grass and broadleaf control
This test is to see if adding biology directly can help improve soil qualities
Plot 3 – Wheat: Conventional no-till under seeded Crimson Clover with in crop grass control
This test is to see if inter seeded clover can improve nitrogen fixing and improve soil health due to a longer growing season with live root in the ground.
Plot 4 – Wheat: Same as Plot 3 with in crop grass control plus using a Comb-cut
This test is to see if the Comb-cut device can give us a mechanical weed control method in the tool box to potentially reduce pesticide use and cost and potentially provide control for resistant weeds.
Plot 5 – Wheat: Conventional no-till plus under seeded Crimson Clover – same as Plot 3 with Comb-cut only
Plot 6 – Tillage in lieu of chemical pre-burn to see alternative to burn down in crop grass and broadleaf control and Comb-cut
This test is to see if tillage instead of pre-burn is net positive or net negative to soil health.
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Soybeans:
Our soybeans are P002T04R CruiserMaxx Vibrance Soybeans that were also seeded into pea stubble on May 22nd into slightly warmer soil. Recommended row widths are 30 inches, 15 inches or solid seeded. Our 7.5 inch spacing is a great approximation for solid seeding so we chose that for this test. Another time we could blank runs and seed @ 15 inches for comparison. This test is to demonstrate whether new Soybean varieties with appropriate heat unit ratings will offer an alternative more profitable crop at our latitude.
Variety: Pioneer Hy-Bred P002T04R
Seeds per Lb – 2748 (6058 seeds per KG)
Seed Source: MB Canada
Heat Units: 2350
Net 140,000 seeds per unit
Plot Seven and Eight for 10 acres of Soybeans, Glyphosate Tolerant that have an appropriate heat requirement for this area.
Up Next!
20 Acres of Cover Crop plots at Eastview Farm plots. 52 acres of Cover Crop at Down to Earth Farm project. Eastview plots will test cover crop as input reducing and biology improving tools in conventional program. Down to Earth project is testing a Long rotation Cattle and Organic grain integration model, with cover crop this year in preparation for no-chemical organic no-till in 2018.
