Tips given by Bayer CropScience’s Tim Moyes
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
“There’s several things we think are important to understand or at least be aware of,” said Tim Moyes, Eastern Account Manager for Bayer Cropscience. “The first one is soil temperature, the second is soil structure, then there’s using quality seed, the use of certified seed and understanding seed treatments.”
1.Soil temperature
“In terms of soil temperature, it would be ideal if you could talk a farmer into going out and checking his soil before he planted, but they’re not going to do that,” said Moyes.
Soil temperature is very important because seeds will only germinate at a certain temperature.
“If you go out too soon and it’s not warmed up or it is warmed up and a cold front comes through, you can run into some difficulties there.”
Moyes said OMAFRA and some seed companies suggest that planting early is the best way to get your yield gains.
2.Soil structure
“You’re trying to get that crop up within four or five days but with soil compaction you’ve got slower emergence and making that crop more susceptible to attack from diseases,” Moyes said.
Moyes also said the longer the seed is in the soil, the more vulnerable it is to insect pests.
“It’s something growers usually aren’t overly concerned about but they should be paying attention to it,” he said.
3.Using quality seeds
“For years and years now they’ve been selling corn and recommending 32,000 to 34,000 plants per acre is your seeding rate and have started doing that with soybeans,” Moyes said from Fergus, Ontario.
Moyes said if the farmer knows how many seeds there are in a pound, they can better determine their planting rate and help cut costs when it comes to treatments.
4.Using certified seeds
“The Canadian Seed Growers and the Canadian Seed Trade are two organizations we support quite strongly,” Moyes said.
Certified seeds, as described by the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association, are “the product of a production process designed to deliver specific plant breeding achievements to farmers and the food industry. In other words, it is true-to-type. True-to-type means all the benefits developed by the plant breeder are retained as the seed is multiplied over a number of specific number of generations (to the Certified seed stage) from the small amount of seed developed by the plant breeder.”
Moyes said they really strive to produce the best quality seed when it comes to treatments, seeding, vigor tests and the seeds are all stored properly.
5.Use good seed treatments from Bayer
“We’ve made some changes in the last few years with how we develop our treatments,” Moyes said. “We used to make our treatments as an all-in-one so you can blanket everything. Now, you can pick and choose.”
Moyes said if you want insect protection or disease protection, farmers can choose the best seed treatment for the specific needs and that will work best for their environment.
Just as Tim Moyes provided tips on how to better practice early seeding, his Western Canada colleague Nathan Klassen did too.
Join the conversation and tell us some of the tips you’ll put any of Tim Moyes’ tips to work on your farm. What other strategies do you use when planting early?