Wheat Pete’s Word, July 28: Falling number answers, double cobs, lush beans, and oats for the west

It’s possible Ontario could set a new wheat record for 2021, and that’s saying something, as reports are that many fields are yielding smaller than average seeds.

Also this week on Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson tackles if corn will yield double cobs, why you need to be out scouting the soybean canopy, and has an action plan for helping fellow farmers out west.

Have a question you’d like Johnson to address or some yield results to send in? Disagree with something he’s said? Leave him a message at 1-888-746-3311, send him a tweet (@wheatpete), or email him at [email protected].

  • Did you sell $8 wheat?
  • Mary Simon, our new Governor General, is just so impressive. 1 in 5 Canadians was not born in Canada
  • Farming is a white world, we need to realize that
  • Let’s embrace and celebrate diversity!
  • Will we set a new wheat record in Ontario? Survey says: it’s possible
  • High 130s, a few 140s has been confirmed
  • 97.5 bu/ac is the standing record
  • In the bin, 104 bu/ac, what about 1,000 kernel weight? 29 to 30 g/1000
  • What’s “normal”?
  • Average TKW — GoCereals.ca has some variety differences. Usually, more like 35 g/1000. Big difference!
  • Double cobs in corn. Will they add to yield? Silks that might make kernels being reported!
  • 30,000 and above population, very few of those cobs will pollinate. Lack of sunshine is going to have an impact
  • Check some cobs — reports of 12 to 14 rows around vs 16
  • What about pods per node in soybeans? Some areas are quite poor
  • Best looking plants are rarely the highest yielding, mind you
  • SDS showing up, cyst nematode showing up, and visible white mould reported
  • Poor wheat doesn’t lodge
  • Delayed harvest because of the rain means shelled out/shattered heads, and already starting to grow. Ugh, that’s no fun.
  • Slow down that reel
  • Hay West in some form is gearing up
  • Cattle coming east, hay going west
  • Straw is one thing, but should we plant some oats for hay for our western friends? Make dry hay!
  • Up your seeding rate (go to 40 to 45 pounds of seed) 50 pounds of N minimum, if you don’t harvest it, don’t worry that N will be worth it (will benefit the corn crop next year)
  • Poor clover with too many weeds. Do you spray it out and start over? Yes, if there isn’t any clover. What weeds are there? Get oats on there
  • Early planted wheat with a lower falling number — because of earlier maturity, more rain, lost dormancy early and sprouted
  • Low falling number happens long before actual sprouts
  • Test weight and falling number are not necessarily impacted by the same thing, so one can be high even while the other is low
  • N deficiency on bottom leaves of corn crop? Sand soil, lots of rain means leaching
  • Stink bugs in edible beans and IP soybeans, get scouting!

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