The growing season doesn’t end with sowing seeds, it’s important to get out scouting early in the season to mitigate potential problems soon after.
There are two main things growers look at during early-season surveys. One, to gauge the success of their seeding operation, which includes how many plants are coming out of the ground versus how many plants are sown. The second, to start looking for potential problems like pests, weeds and seedling diseases, said Clint Jarke of the Canola Council of Canada in this interview. Canola School With Amber Bell of RealAgriculture.
Plant counts play an important role in understanding how successful a sowing was. They also inform management decisions for the current growing season and for years to come. Five to seven plants per square foot is best for maximizing yields, while at two plants per square foot the crop becomes difficult to manage, at which point you should consider reseeding, Jurke says.
By quantifying how many plants are actually in the field, growers can see exactly how many plants didn’t make it compared to the number of seeds sown. From there, it becomes much easier to find ways to make improvements, which can be influenced by a number of factors, Jurke says.
Early season scouting also makes sense from an economic standpoint, because proper record keeping and early observation of problems allow better management decisions to be made.
Watch the full video to learn more about when and why to walk the fields early in the season.
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