The later hail occurs in the season, the more damage it can do to yield. That said, flowering canola can, with enough time, recover from hail that knocks off a large percentage of flowers. Canola will flower for longer to compensate. In light hail, canola can sometime over-compensate and produce even higher yield. In serious hail situations where entire flowering branches are knocked off, plants that are still actively flowering can produce new branches. This will set back maturity, which is why calendar date is important. But with enough season left, these new branches can produce a decent yield.
Rescue treatments for hail? Nothing is scientifically proven to work, but we just don’t have that much data on treatments for hailed canola. Time and moisture are the best treatments — and it’s tough to order both. With time and moisture, a flowering canola crop will do its best to recover. A study on dry beans in Ontario showed no response to fungicide used as a health-booster after a simulated hail, but we don’t have any canola studies to compare. Growers applying a rescue treatment are encouraged to leave multiple check strips and compare yields for treated and untreated strips. Multiple strips are important in this case given the spotty nature of hail. Using one strip or applying treatment to half the field may not provide an accurate comparison. Follow the Ultimate Canola Challenge protocol for strip trials. If following UCC protocol, would you consider sharing your trial results with us? Email Nicole Philp at philpn@canolacouncil.org.
Source : Albertacanola