Canola rotations

[Marusko]

My suggestion to lesmt. Rent it all out (including a stipulation for canola no more than every 3rd year), and help your renter in the busy seasons - run one of his machines, or even keep your combine and do custom work for them. That way, you get your paycheque and still are farming, but without the risk, and the labour headache.

By planting canola-on-canola, you are devaluing your land, your investment, and spreading disease. You may not be aware of clubroot in your area, but it's almost certain that it's there, just nobody's found it yet.

[Crestliner]

Clubroot is made worse by tight rotations of canola.

Clubroot is an organism that feeds on canola and other brassicae species. It feeds on the plant, then multiplies. Of course, the more of the organism you have, the worse it is. The clubroot spores die off over time; many die after 2 years but they can live up to 20 years. So doing extended rotations allows more spores to die off, so that the infection of the next canola crop isn't worse than the last canola crop and doesn't reproduce even more spores (though it will produce some).

Tight rotations increase the spore load and thus severity of infection. Choosing less than 3 year cycle is a choice to feed the disease. It's very short-sighted if you have an infection, because you may still get a good crop in your canola-on-canola but that could be the year that the spore load jumps (as I just learned, the new spores are released when the roots decompose). Then you plant canola again, have a terrible crop, realize now you have a serious clubroot problem, and have already multiplied the disease severity by many times, again.

this is why EVERYONE should be doing extended rotations. you don't know you have a problem until it's too late.

Something else to consider, volunteer canola and brassicae weeds (such as stinkweed, shepherd's purse, and flixweed) in the gap years can feed the infection as well so weed and volunteer control is important. Poor control in the cereal or pulse crop means you may not have reduced the level of infection. Companion crops with canola (e.g. peaola) does nothing to reduce clubroot as you're still providing a host.

The spores do stay in the soil so that is why they say to clean your equipment. Although if you're dusting out your neighbour's field when you're harrowing at 10mph, you're probably spreading it that way too.

You should read the canola council webpage on clubroot for more detailed info.

https://www.canolacouncil.org/canola-encyclopedia/diseases/clubroot/about-clubroot/

Thank-you for this very valuable information. Are you suggesting that 3 full crops in between canola followed by very good control of volunteer canola in other crops ensures maximum benefit to the land? If this is the case better get the word out loud and quick...my neighbors are driving me nuts with canola on canola. I don’t need their dust on my side of fence.

[fjlip]

Reading all the seed catalogues in the mail, many canola varieties are rated R to Club root. Why won't this mean it will be a non issues in future? No club root damage to the plant. Continuous canola here we come.

[Marusko]

Thank-you for this very valuable information. Are you suggesting that 3 full crops in between canola followed by very good control of volunteer canola in other crops ensures maximum benefit to the land? If this is the case better get the word out loud and quick...my neighbors are driving me nuts with canola on canola. I don’t need their dust on my side of fence.

I should say that I'm not a researcher or agronomist, just a farmer in a clubroot area who's done a lot of reading and attending seminars, so what I write here is what I've learned from that, speckled with info from online resources as I write.

Strictly speaking, if a guy has clubroot and wants to ensure maximum benefit to the land, he stops growing canola for a while. Of course nobody wants to stop growing the highest gross-income crop, so the common advice is minimum 2 full alternate crops, so every 3rd year can be canola, which should avoid creating a major infestation. Of course, more alternates is better.

If a field is severely affected, the farmer should wait longer to let the spores die out more. And the other thing is, clubroot evolves pretty quickly so if you get an outbreak in your field of a new "pathotype" that the clubroot-resistant canola varieties aren't resistant to, you should extend your rotations even further (more years between canola crops) to avoid spreading that new type.

I agree regarding that kind of neighbour. The industry is trying to get the word out, but some people just don't give a damn.

[Marusko]

Reading all the seed catalogues in the mail, many canola varieties are rated R to Club root. Why won't this mean it will be a non issues in future? No club root damage to the plant. Continuous canola here we come.

Clubroot continues to evolve. Planting resistant varieties in tight rotations gives clubroot lots of opportunity to overcome the resistance. Already there are clubroot types that affect the first 'generation' of clubroot-resistant canola.

clubroot resistant varieties are not a silver bullet.

[WiltonRanch]

If a person was to seed an infested field down to grass for 5 years and grew cereals for a couple years I wonder how much it’d help to eradicate it till it builds up. I know clubroot and sclerotinia are different in their persistence and mode of infection but we were told before to keep canola frequency to 1 in 4 years to avoid sclerotinia away. However, my worst infections came on a greenfeed quarter that hadn’t seen canola for 8 years, and 2004 it didn’t matter what field it was. Yes it blows in and it’s always there waiting for the right conditions. I just wonder once clubroot gets in the country and no matter what your actions and best intentions are you’re ****ed anyway. I hate regulations and govt interference but when asshole beside you is 5 years into canola snow canola and on the other side guy is about the same it’s the perfect petrie dish for a lesson in evolution and how to wreck a good thing. It won’t be the weather, trade tensions, or market meltdowns that wreck us but the greed of those looking to cash in before they wreck it for everyone. It’s tempting to do it but most of our land is owned some of it is 4th generation and I will not screw it up for greed cause previous generations made their mistakes and found what worked and made changes when necessary. The greedy fly by night crashed and burned then and will in the future. Only I hope they don’t take us with them.

[Guest]

Wow....14% canola drying charges at the terminal could run $20-25 per acre. A BTO could pay for a dryer set up pretty quick at that rate..... add disease applied by air...another $30....cost of canola rise pretty high when combined with a proper nutrient package. $10.50 or $12.00 canola dosent make that great a bottom line when a negative weather event impairs the yield. Easy to grow a 30 bpa crop and just end up spinning your wheels.

she's a big old freight train lumbering towards the mountain , slowly but surely , picking up speed now ......
went southwest of melfort today , quarter after quarter after quarter of green canola gettin knocked down .
looked like the attack of the Massey swathers

[Crestliner]

I should say that I'm not a researcher or agronomist, just a farmer in a clubroot area who's done a lot of reading and attending seminars, so what I write here is what I've learned from that, speckled with info from online resources as I write.

Strictly speaking, if a guy has clubroot and wants to ensure maximum benefit to the land, he stops growing canola for a while. Of course nobody wants to stop growing the highest gross-income crop, so the common advice is minimum 2 full alternate crops, so every 3rd year can be canola, which should avoid creating a major infestation. Of course, more alternates is better.

If a field is severely affected, the farmer should wait longer to let the spores die out more. And the other thing is, clubroot evolves pretty quickly so if you get an outbreak in your field of a new "pathotype" that the clubroot-resistant canola varieties aren't resistant to, you should extend your rotations even further (more years between canola crops) to avoid spreading that new type.

I agree regarding that kind of neighbour. The industry is trying to get the word out, but some people just don't give a damn.

I appreciate your honesty and quite frankly I appreciate the real world information you are willing to share on this forum. The fact that you are a farmer and have first hand experience with this issue gives you a lot of credibility. You are fully invested in your operation and have a lot more at stake than a researcher alone. I love canola, I have made money growing it, my farm is 4th generation and we want to look after our land with all that we have and increase its value. Industry and farmers have got to keep working with each other to insure our future success and adapt to ever evolving conditions. Clubroot scares the crap out of me. I have done well bottom line with other crops just as well as canola and have committed to what we think is an optimum rotation. Although My neighbours make me question this from time. They didnt call canola a Cinderella crop for nothing....she needs to be treated special like a princess.

[hobbyfrmr]

If a person was to seed an infested field down to grass for 5 years and grew cereals for a couple years I wonder how much it’d help to eradicate it till it builds up. I know clubroot and sclerotinia are different in their persistence and mode of infection but we were told before to keep canola frequency to 1 in 4 years to avoid sclerotinia away. However, my worst infections came on a greenfeed quarter that hadn’t seen canola for 8 years, and 2004 it didn’t matter what field it was. Yes it blows in and it’s always there waiting for the right conditions. I just wonder once clubroot gets in the country and no matter what your actions and best intentions are you’re ****ed anyway. I hate regulations and govt interference but when asshole beside you is 5 years into canola snow canola and on the other side guy is about the same it’s the perfect petrie dish for a lesson in evolution and how to wreck a good thing. It won’t be the weather, trade tensions, or market meltdowns that wreck us but the greed of those looking to cash in before they wreck it for everyone. It’s tempting to do it but most of our land is owned some of it is 4th generation and I will not screw it up for greed cause previous generations made their mistakes and found what worked and made changes when necessary. The greedy fly by night crashed and burned then and will in the future. Only I hope they don’t take us with them.

Initially it is not greed. It is ambition. Eventually it becomes necessary.

Consider that some farmers can't afford not to grow canola.

[Crestliner]

she's a big old freight train lumbering towards the mountain , slowly but surely , picking up speed now ......
went southwest of melfort today , quarter after quarter after quarter of green canola gettin knocked down .
looked like the attack of the Massey swathers

I have a friend in Melfort and they said it didn’t freeze much there. What does the canola look like?

[WiltonRanch]

Initially it is not greed. It is ambition. Eventually it becomes necessary.

Consider that some farmers can't afford not to grow canola.

True enough. Myself included. Have pushed canola frequency enough in my view. Every other year on some fields but will trend back to one year in 3. Most of this hilly rocky country is wheat-canola. Lot of barley and oats grown at one time but as cattle left the country the need dwindled. However, I hope feed barley stays reasonably attractive to grow so I have something for wheat stubble. Fava beans are working for some but maturity scares me and I know there’s only certain fields that would be hot enough.