Getting A Good Stand Establishment Is Key

Producers taking part in this year’s Top Notch Farming events are learning more about the importance of getting a good stand establishment.

 

Warren Ward, an Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, says it’s really the starting point to a successful growing season.

 

He notes a number of environmental factors, like a spring frost, can have an impact on crops.

 

"After frost if we've got one to two plants per square foot and they're uniformly distributed across the field. Which means that they're not in patches, we've got a nice uniform stand. It's a really low number of plants per square foot, but it's still as consistent enough that we can see a reasonable crop from that. Your yield expectation might be a little bit lower than you would have with your regular plant stand, but at the end of the day, you're probably further ahead leaving those low stands. As long as it's uniform than you were if you went in and reseeded and now you're a week to ten days behind in terms of the growing season."

 

He says with canola if it’s a light frost, farmers should give plants anywhere from three to seven days  to recover before making a decision on whether to re-seed, noting there’s lots of factors to consider.

 

"How late in the year is it? What are your moisture conditions? Are there enough plants left and are they uniform enough that you don't need to reseed or is the damage bad enough that you do need to reseed it? It really can be a challenging decision for most people to make."

Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.