WIDESPREAD FROST HITS THE SW ONTARIO CORN CROP IN THE EARLY HOURS OF MONDAY MORNING MAY 10
Growers woke up Monday morning May 10 to frozen corn.Temperatures at sundown Sunday May 9 were approaching the freezing mark.By 3:00AM temperatures had dipped to -4.4C near the London airport. Recorded lows at the soil line reached -5.9C. By 6:00AM temperatures ranged from -2C in the Hamilton, Brantford and London area to -1C at Dresden Ridgetown and Chatham.By 10:00AM most emerged corn was taking on a limp darkened watery black-green appearanace much like that shown in the photo above.
Many factors are involved in how frost interacts with the crop.Planting depth,soil texture,residues, soil moisture reserves,topography and the geographical lay of the land can all have some degree of influence.Double click on the photo above to see more clearly how the two plants on the right are both frozen while the plant to the left is not.
Experience has taught us that the best way to diagnose frost injury is to give the crop an opportunity to respond to further growth.This means usually giving the crop 3-5 days before making any final assessments.Emerged to 2 leaf corn is more apt to bounce back favourably from an early season frost than corn that is in the 3 - 4 leaf stage.There are 2 reasons for this.First there is less dead plant tissue for the new emerging growth to push up through and secondly with 3-4 leaf corn the starch reserves of the seed have become pretty much exhausted.The first 4 leaves are in the seed and the endosperm starch of the kernel acts as the energy source to fuel the growth and development in the emergence of these first 4 leaves.If these leaves succcumb to frost the plants only reserves for initiating further growth are those in the mesocotyl.
New fresh green tissue rising up from the soil line like that shown in the above photo is ones surest indication that the plant is still alive and beginning to regrow.

SW ONTARIO PIONEER REPS ARE CONDUCTING OVER 160 PRODUCT ADVANCEMENT TRIALS ( PAT TRIALS) IN 2010

Pioneer sales reps are heavily involved in the evaluation process of potential new Pioneer products for the Onatrio farm marketplace.By planting and weighing on farm Pioneer PAT trials Pioneer reps contribute a substantial amount of data that aids in the potential advancement of New corn hybrids and soybean varieties for Ontario farmers.

Every year Pioneer hires an Agronomy Intern to help assist in the planting and data collection that comes from Pioneers extensive on farm PAT trial program.This years Agronomy Intern is Bruce Betzner who hails from Lynden Ontario located close to Hamilton.Bruce is the son of Pioneer sales Rep Joe Betzner.Bruce will help Pioneer sales reps plant and evaluate the performance of potential new Pioneer products in a geography that covers from Grandbend to Hamilton down to Niagara Falls and back along Lake Erie to Detroit.

PAT SEED is organized ahead of planting by clearly numbering each product for its respective turn to be planted.
When Bruce is unable to reach a Pioneer Sales Reps location others in the reps family will often pitch in to help make the planting process go smoothly.In the case above Megan Tyhurst daughter of Tom Tyhurst near Dresden,Ontario can be seen pitching in a hand.
Instead of removing planter boxes between each products fill-up some reps have streamlined their planting process by utilizing a shop vac and a portable generator.This has certainly made the job of planting a lot of PAT hybrids much easier and more time efficient.Brad Gawley can be seen above vacuuming out one of Tom Tyhurst planter units while his daughter Megan can be seen in the background retrieving a sample bag of a new PAT entry for the next planting.
Megan can be seen above pouring seed of a NEW PAT ENTRY in one of the hoppers of her dads planter.
Of course making sure that each plot gets properly recorded and staked is of fundamental importance in the entire plot planting process.The staked hybrid shown in the foreground is a unique new PAT ENTRY in that it is one of the first Pioneer hybrids to ever be evaluated for it dual-mode-of-action for corn borer control.This is a compliance requirement of the CFIA ( Canadian Food Inspection Agency )in order for companies to be able to reduce their percentage of Corn Borer Refugia requirement.X03A139YHR offers 2 modes of action for corn borer protection.

PIONEER ALFALFA - AS GOOD AS ALFALFA GETS !
In early April growers were busy preparing and seeding this years alfalfa crop.Fine firm seedbeds are the order of the day in establishing good alfalfa stands.A fine firm seedbed helps both seat the seed at the right depth and holds moisture for uniform early germination.Ideal seding depths are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.The number one reason for poor stand establishment in alfalfa is seeding TOO DEEP.You can't beat cultipacking a field both before and after seeding like that shown above and below.

Alfalfa is best seeded on well drained friable soils.Hard pan soggy soils are no place for alfalfa.To grow persistent stands that will produce 5 tonne of dry matter per acre you will need to keep soil PH's above 6.5.Alflafa is a heavy feeder of Calcium and magnesium.Nearly 30 lb of Calcium is removed per tonne and nearly 10 lb of Magnesium.High Soil Phosphorus and potash levels are also required as close to 15 lbs of P205 and 50 lbs of K20 are removed per tonne of dry matter produced.

Alfalfa is best seeded at somewhere between 16 and 20 lb per acre.Higher seeding rates will provide higher leaf to stem ratios in the initial seeding year which is the preference of many high producing dairy herds.The addition of 2-3 lb of a grass like timothy is sometimes preferred by producers putting up baled hay as the grass will help in the drying process.Double click on the above photo and you will see how these young alfalfa seedlings are progressing.








Many of last years seedings look strong like that shown here.Growth has been exceptionally strong this spring and first cut yields of last years seedings look like they could be exceptional.

First cut harvest could start as early as the last week of May for those producers taking cuts at 1/10 bloom.Pioneer provides alfalfa varieties that will cover the entire spectrum of growers needs.Pioneer brand 55V48 and 54V46 are exceptionally high yielding varieties bred for the intensive alfalfa manager who prefers to harvest 3-4 cuts of big tonnage high quality alflafa silage per year.
Pioneer brand 53Q30 and 54Q25 can be used for producing good high tonnage alfalfa silage but are best positioned with growers preferring to put up high quality alflafa hay.For producers in need of a Leafhopper resistant variety Pioneer offers Pioneer brand 54H91.

2010 Spring - CONDUCIVE TO EARLY PLANTINGS and GOOD STAND ESTABLISHMENT

Uniform stands of corn can be found popping up throughout SW Ontario.It takes roughly 150-175 CHU, depending on the hybrid,seedbed conditions and planting depth, for corn to emerge.
This field shot above was taken Tuesday May 4 of a field just west of Granton Ontario.It was planted April 19th.

The shot above was taken near Dresden Ontario.It was planted on Friday April 23.
The photo of the field above was taken near Springford Ontario.It was planted on Tuesday April 20. No matter where you drive in SW Ontario strong looking stands of corn like those shown above can be found.Though its a long way to the finish line a lot of the Southwestern Ontario corn crop has gotten off to an excellent start.It certainly points the way to a potentially heavier and drier corn crop for the vast majority of SW Ontario producers to harvest.

WELCOME BACK !
I look forward to helping you keep updated on the progress of our 2010 SW Ontario corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa crops.

The spring of 2010 will undoubtedly go down as one of the most unique in the history of SW Ontario agriculture.To have 70% of the Ontario corn crop and 5% of the Ontario soybean crop planted by May 1st is unprecedented.
The shot above was taken on Hwy 21 just south of Thamesville on Thurs May 6.
Its truly remarkable how fast the corn crop can be planted if farmers have favourable weather.
Of course the size of todays farming equipment certainly helps make things happen in a hurry.The shot above was taken on Veterans Memorial Hwy just north of Dundas Street on the east side of London today.

It will be interesting to see how much truth lies in the old adage

" plant in the dust and your bins will bust."
Certainly planting conditions have been very favourable this spring.

Without any heavy rains, the majority of seedbeds have worked up in great shape providing a conducive environment for uniform emergence.
The shot above was taken on Wed May 5 on 78 Hwy just west of Dresden, Ontario.

Residue Management and Seeding Product Engineers have been working on new concept designs to condition and incorporate the residues from todays higher yielding corn crops for nearly two decades now.Good examples of such tried and true performance units is this 22 ft RTS unit from Salford working in the residue from a 200+ bu/acre Ontario corn crop.The concept with a Residue Tillage Specialist ( RTS ) Unit is to allow gangs of fluted coulters to cut,incorporate and help condition stalks.Some growers have found a single pass of an RTS unit in the fall followed up with another in the spring can be sufficient enough for creating excellent seedbed conditions for planting while other growers use the RTS unit to condition residue ahead of their primary tillage tool - not to provide clearance but to provide faster decomposition as it greatly reduces the risk of having layers of buried partly decomposed residue keeping the soil wetter and cooler in the spring.

The objective of the Residue Management Engineer Specialists at Salford over 20 years ago was to create a series of Primary Tillage Tools that would either match or exceed the yield performance of the mouldboard plough. They recognized 3 important things from the beginning :

1)They would need to create tillage units that would better help growers manage crop residues.Their concept was that of creating tillage tools that would not only condition the soil much like a moldboard plough but create a soil environment that would improve upon the ability of the moldboard plough to regulate the soils temperature, water and aeration balance.

2)They recognized that their units would need to manage the soils Carbon /Nitrogen ratio better than the mouldboard plough if they were to ever equal or exceed its performance and

3) if they could achieve their above two objectives they knew they could accelerate the adoption of their new residue management units because of the improved efficiency they would deliver over the moldboard plough for eliminating headland travel,back furrows and lifting the primary tillage speed limit.

The 9800CTS ( Conservation Tillage Specialist) Unit above behaves much like their 9700CTS unit other than that it comes with heavy duty spiral rolling harrows on the front and rear.The front roller acts to crimp and condition stalks while the rear roller acts to help level,distribute and further condition residue.The intent of these additional heavy spiral duty rollers on the 9800 is to help growers better manage the crushing , crimping, breaking and incorporation of massive amounts of corn residues.

The 9700CTS unit shown above behaves much like the 9800CTS in that both disrupt all the soil much like a mouldboard plough.They both have optional points ( from 2.5" to 4" mounted over a 17" share mounted on 16" spacings. As you can see the 9700 unit has no front or rear spiral rolling harrows like the 9800 unit does.

To better accomodate the needs of growers preferring the soil conditioning of a mouldboard plough and to allow them to proficiently handle the increased residues of todays higher yielding corn crops Salford Engineers lengthened out the gang spacing of their mouldboard ploughs as well as increased their throat clearance.It was discovered that by making these two engineering changes there was almost no limit to the amount of residue that could flow freely through their new units.It was even discovered that there was no longer a need for plough coulters.

As you can see its the ability of these units to help growers speedily manage heavy amounts of residue that is most appealing.They are gaining greater and greater popularity.Their appeal lies in their ability to condition the soil much like a mouldboard plough as well as leave residues crushed and crimped, with sufficient incorporation and soil levelling, to allow one pass seedbed preparation in the spring.

With these Heavy Duty Residue Management Units growers no longer need to concern themselves with the extra residue left remaining in their fields after harvesting todays higher yielding 200 + bushel corn crops. On the contrare, growers can now embrace the extra residues remaining after harvest and begin enjoying the increased opportunity that these higher residues can have in enhancing the yield performance of future crops.

The above photo shows how one fall pass in 220 bu/a corn residue can provide a well mixed soil with crushed, crimped and sufficiently incorporated residues to allow good soil bacterial action in achieving a desired 10:1 Carbon Nitrogen ratio. It also shows how a single tillage pass in the spring is all that will be needed to prepare this field for spring planting.

Sounds Like a Heap Lot Of FUN doesn't it! Come Gather with your neighbours for some food, fellowship and a heap lot of Pioneer yield data to boot.

And no one does it better than Joe Elliott of Florence ,Ontario.Joe has been holding his post harvest Plot-HotDog Day for years now.As he puts it, " It just gives the folks a chance to come out,meet with their neighbours, enjoy each others company and take a short refreshment break from the rigours of the falls hectic harvest pace. Its just great to see folks gettin' together to share a little time.After all thats what lifes about -havin' fun chatting ,catching up on the news and enjoying a hot dog and donut in the process "

AND OH DO THOSE BBQ'd HOT DOGS TASTE GOOD !!!

Of course Joe throws in a little measure of business just to make things complete.

Of course it doesn't hurt to have some doughnuts to go along with everyones hot dog !

Joe prints up 50 copies of 1 and 3 year yield data as well as all the corn and soybean plots in his surrounding Counties.As Joe puts it, " You just gotta take a look a the BIG PICTURE when you're trying to make decisions on what to plant for next year.I've seen too many folks fooled by just looking a limited number of local plots.The weather they got 30-40 miles away be be what we get next year and vice versa. I really like the 3 year report best "

And yes the folks do come out in BIG NUMBERS and they do enjoy themselves HAVING SOME FUN !!

Of course Joe makes sure that there's some hot fresh brewed coffee to keep the folks warmed up !