A weekly report prepared by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). If you require further information, regarding this report, call the Elora Resource Centre at 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For technical information, call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or visit the OMAFRA website: www.ontario.ca/omafra
Planting
The March 2018 planting intentions report by Statistics Canada estimated Ontario farmers intended to plant 2.2 million acres of grain corn, comparing to a 5-year (2013-2017) average of 2.1 million acres (OMAFRA Crop Statistics).
A cool April coupled with snow and freezing rain events through to the middle of the month limited early field work. A warm dry period during the last week of April allowed a small amount of early planting on the lighter soils of the deep southwest and well drained soils in other pockets of the province.
Apart from a few locales, rainfall was limited during early May allowing planting to start in earnest on lighter, drier soils of the province by the first week of May.
Areas which had received significant April snow, such as parts of mid-western Ontario, remained wet. A large amount of corn was planted the second week of May. By the end of that week, planting was nearly complete in areas which started early and 50% or more in areas that started later.
Much of the provincial planting was completed by the third week of May, except for heavier textured soils in Essex, Lambton, western Middlesex/Elgin counties and Niagara where many growers were yet to start planting.
Frequent rains in these areas pushed corn planting to the last week of May and beginning of June.
Many of these remaining acres were switched to shorter maturity hybrids while some were switched to soybeans.
Heavy May rainfall events in the deep southwest, Essex and Chatham-Kent in particular, resulted in some replanting where significant water ponding occurred.
Final grain corn planting estimates for the province were 2.16 million acres (OMAFRA Crop Statistics), close to the 2.2 million acres estimated in the March Statistics Canada planting intentions report.
Early Season
OMAFRA completed its annual Pre Sidedress-Nitrate Test (PSNT) survey June 6th at the V3-V4 corn stage. The survey measures background soil nitrogen supply by sampling fields which haven’t received preplant nitrogen.
The purpose of the survey is to gauge soil nitrate levels just prior to sidedress time. In 2018, the average PSNT value was 12.7 ppm, slightly higher than the long term (2011-2017) survey average of 12.0 ppm, and higher than 8 ppm from the 2017 survey.
This suggests natural soil nitrate supply in the 2018 survey was normal to a little higher than normal. Each 5-ppm change in PSNT generally changes N recommendations by around 30 lb-N/ac, though the actual number depends on soil nitrate level and yield goal. See PSNT recommendation at http://bit.ly/1SNkEM8.
The warm, dry conditions up to early June would have been conducive for nitrogen mineralization from soil, and limited potential for losses.
With limited rainfall, the month of June was co-operative for in-crop management practices such as sidedressing.
Thrips were observed in many corn fields across the province in June. Thrips are rarely a corn pest in Ontario, and corn management information is limited.
No common threads were evident for their prevalence in 2018 (crop rotation, manure history, planting date, seed treatment etc.).
While most fields grew out of injury with little expected yield loss, control was applied in some fields which remained very dry and appeared to be held back by thrip pressure.
With limited rainfall in many areas by the end of June, moisture stress was showing up on soils with poor water holding capacity which had not received significant rainfall.
– Written by the OMAFRA Field Crop Team on Dec. 20
Coming Event:
Feb. 13 – Dufferin Soil & Crop Improvement Association. Annual seed and feed show & annual meeting, Amaranth Township Hall – County Road 10 and Line 6 Laurel, 374028 6th Line Amaranth. For more information contact Jim Irvine at 519-835-9929.
