on the advice of others I swathed a particularily heavy 1/2 section of canola 2 days prior to the first major freeze. Froze at -2 to -3 for 8 hrs. Anyhow there was a 10 acre piece that couldn't be swathed as was to wet. So now basically have a straight vs swathed trial on the go after a major frost. Now the interesting part. The swathed is sitting at 10% green WHILE THE FROZEN STANDING STUFF IS AT 3%. Whats going on? I thot you were better protected in a swath? Seems strange. Anyone else ever seen anything like this? Thot the standing stuff might shell all over the ground after the frost but it still isn't. As it looks right now the standing stuff will be higher quality and ready to harvest sooner than the swathed right beside it.
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JD, is there more 'pepper' in the standing or close to the same as the swathed? We straight cut canola after it froze in '04, it didn't shell out either, but we did have a very high green count, and even though it was dry,(9 or 10%), it still wanted to spoil in the bin Had to keep turning it till it was good and cold. Then finally was able to ship it.
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JD,
It really depends on what size of swath, where in the feild, what rain allowed the green to cure out... how much sun, and the initial frost temp that ended the plant growth.
The temps you state would not likely have killed the Canola just as many other plants do not die at 3 to 4 deg of frost. We got to nights of minus 7 in a row... and volunteer canola is still blooming.
Most straight cutters will tell you that the green seed content has little to do with if it is swathed of standing.
However: standing canola is often more at risk of shatter... we have seen 50percent losses in windy wet conditions that lasted a week.
The swathed canola in that case had no shatter.
Again... it is all in the weather... both work... if you can put up with the green plant material in your straight cut canola... and dry it out.
Often we were 2 points higher moisture than swathed; because green wet plant material has same density as seeds... and end up in the hopper instead of blowing our if it were dry.
IF the canola is heavy and knitted together... the shatter losses will be much less.
Take your pick... have fun... better than what others ended up with; as you have a great crop!
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tom4cwb, do you routinely straight cut canola, if so, do you spray a pod sealant? does it pay on an avg stand? do you prefer a certain variety over others to cut straight?
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What is the moisture of the canola in the swath? If it is above 9% it could still loose some of the green when it dries out and is fully cured. There will probably be a yield difference between the standing and swathed. It is allways a gamble either way, your standing is still not in the bin and could still shell out. You will never guess it right no matter what you do.
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Boarderbloke,
We tried pod sealant last year and found no differnce. Had we missed the 2 weeks of wet weather... it may have been some help.
Certain varieties are better, we had RR that was a reck... clearfield that shattered little without sealant.
There is no 'right' answer... weeds are a problem to kill if green/wet.
A thick even stand gives best straight cut result!
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Combined canola and green count is 2 to 8 on swath and on standing we pick up just corner where miss by swather and count green is at 11. This is 43A56 varties I guess it didn't matter as where frost came in and green count may lock. Also timing of swath where I decided is main stem and about middle of branch of main stem where color is turning change. But it don't work. So next time, top of branch of main stem. Little scatter but #1 is all interest. Where is Polish RR that I wanna to buy but wtf it didn't available?
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