As we head into the month of August, most farmers will be getting the combine ready for harvest. However, the question of whether to desiccate or not is always on the minds of farmers that want to get a jumpstart on harvest. Sometimes that decision of desiccation can be answered as early as seeding time. Jason Stewart is an agrologist with Parrish & Heimbecker in Weyburn and has noticed the increase in desiccants used.
“The biggest thing that we'll see this year is the fact that more lentils were put in the ground due to the increased crop prices at the time of seeding, so that caused the uptick in lentils seeded in the ground around the Weyburn area and of course that increases the desiccants used such as Diquat.”
Other crops such as canola can either be desiccated to be straight cut or swathed to help dry down and be picked up. Not only do farmers want to help dry down the seed in the plant in order to be easily harvested, but also to kill the plant and surrounding weeds to make putting them through the combine easier. With time being of the essence for all farmers as harvest rapidly approaches, the critical decision to spray or not to spray gets more and more important.
Farmers must also be wary of insect and disease pressure as the crops finish seed filling and begin to turn. Crops are incredibly susceptible to insect and disease damages at this time of year because of the energy the plant needs to put into seed fill. Stewart has noticed, especially in the pulse crops, that weather conditions have made for an increase in insect numbers.
“Diamondback moths are out there this year, and it was a bad year for aphids especially in our peas and our lentils. I had my summer students out sweeping and sweeping fields to see if we were above threshold and many lentil fields had to get hit with insecticides. This year in the Weyburn area, I've been doing this job for seven years and I haven’t seen humidity hit the Weyburn area like we saw this year probably since 2016.”
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