Thin Stands Often Better Than Reseeding

May 19, 2011

Thin Stands Often Better Than Reseeding

What if a grower calibrated wrong and seeded at 3 pounds/acre instead of 5 pounds as intended? If that seed had a thousand kernel weight (TKW) of 5 grams, the actual number of surviving plants per square foot could be lower than the minimum 4-5 plants required for canola to reach its yield potential. Click here to see how important it is to recalibrate when switching crops or varieties.

Should the grower reseed?

Not likely. This thin stand is not optimal for yield (see the graph below) but a thin stand at the end of May has better yield and quality potential than the alternative, which is reseeding.

The key is to protect those few plants. Thresholds for everything are lower with a thin stand. Watch closely for insects and consider spraying for flea beetles when damage is only 20%. Keep weed competition to a minimum. And know that the large bushy plants that this crop produces will have wider windows of susceptibility for sclerotinia. If the risk is high, a split application of fungicide may be warranted because the flowering period will be longer.

If growers know immediately that they made a mistake with the seeding rate, they could try to overseed to bump the rate. But if the mistake is not known for a couple days, just leave the crop, assess it as it emerges, and manage accordingly. Don’t try to overseed because it could damage germinated seedlings and create a multi-stage crop that presents management challenges all season long.

Source: Canola Council of Canada

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Border View Farms is a mid-sized family farm that sits on the Ohio-Michigan border. My name is Nathan. I make and edit all of the videos posted here. I farm with my dad, Mark and uncle, Phil. Our part-time employee, Brock, also helps with the filming. 1980 was our first year in Waldron where our main farm is now. Since then we have grown the operation from just a couple hundred acres to over 3,000. Watch my 500th video for a history of our farm I filmed with my dad.

I started making these videos in the fall of 2019 as a way to help show what I do on a daily basis as a farmer. Agriculture is different from any other industry and I believe the more people that are showing their small piece of agriculture, helps to build our story. We face unique challenges and stressful situations but have some of the most rewarding payoffs in the end. I get to spend everyday doing what I love, raising my kids on the farm, and trying to push our farm to be better every year. I hope that I can address questions or concerns that you might have about farms and agriculture.