Need tips on straight cutting argentine canola

[poorboy]

I am looking for people with lots of experience in straight cutting argentine canola to give me some good tips.

Do you normally desicate the crop with reglone (I am thinking of a 30-40 bushel crop)

Is the canola normally close to the 10% moisture range and must be natural air dryed, or will it come in at 8% moisture and keep for long term storage in a non aeration bin.

Do you need a pickup reel on your header?

Most of my crops are standing quite well and are not really lodged. I am somewhat worried about the wind shelling out the pods, but my neighbor claims that if you get to it right away it will be fine, it only will shell if it has been sitting ripe for a couple of weeks.

I really hate swathing my canola and sure would like to straight cut it, but I can't afford huge losses either.

[Ron]

I have straight cut my canola for a couple years now and a lodged crop definatly works better. I have a pickup reel but usually keep it raised much more than when swathing and let the table auger pull the canola in. Last year I split a field in half swathed vs straightcut and had shattering losses standing but still beat the swathed by .5 bu/ac (hand held gps on two 40 acre pieces). I didnt desicate and it is really hard to wait for the crop to mature, I may look at liberty link canola and desicate with roundup in the future. try it on part of your crop (swathing is boring but straight cutting is not for the faint of heart) good luck

[cris]

Hey I sprayed 1.5 of glyfos on canola and intended to staight cut 10-14 days later. Glyphosphate does not work fast on canola. It took closer to 5 weeks to die down, thistles and quack were long since dead and the canola was tough as nails. It was a 40 bu. crop of 2733 and I wished I swathed it a few days after spraying. The canola did not shell very badly but it wouldn't cure. Hope this helps!

[poorboy]

cris,
Was your 40 bushel crop of 2733 standing or lodged so that the wind could not shake it around. Why do you think it took 5 weeks to cure (too cold and wet)?

Most people tell me that 2-3 weeks longer than swathing is normal for unsprayed canola.

[cris]

It was standing, Quite short although. I think it was the weather mostly. This was two years ago when we tried it. we sprayed a couple days before you would normally swath and the weather went south about 10 days after it was sprayed. we got frost and much the same weather that we are getting now cool and rainy. I feel if we would have swathed 3 days later we would have had enough time to dry down a bit before the frost. We ended up with canola in the 25-40% green and damaged. Our other canola was in the 1-2% range. As as side note 25-40% green may not be bad after this last frost!

[cris]

I also should have noted that the plants didn't dry down like I expected. The seed geen counts I think are a result of the plants not drying down fast enough.

[timm]

if you spray too early the roundup will not desicate properly & may be why more green seed ???

[gwynplaine]

As Cris' experience shows, glyphosate will not actually desiccate the crop... and canola usually takes almost as long to dry down from a pre-harvest glyphosate application as it does naturally. Rapid drydown is also very bad for green seed counts, we need the seed to be over 20% moisture to enable metabolism of the chlorophyll in the seed. Rain can help with this, but not after it has been frosted. Cut canola can take more frost than standing canola after about 3 days or so of being on the ground. Murray, Emile, is this due to decreased moisture content, or an insulation effect?

My advice is to choose straight cut canola fields carefully. I'm familiar with several operators who are very successful with straight cutting (Ft Sask area), when the conditions are right. Low disease pressure (sclerotinia and alternaria - less shattering), well lodged and tangled crops (prevent wind damage, also from shattering), and good chances of an open fall. Frost will hit a standing crop harder than a swathed one. Choose wisely, and good luck!! Let me know how it works out.

[timm]

i am considering spraying reglone on rr canola ,heavy stand at 70-80% seed colour change & straight cuting.we had severely blown swaths last year& sprouted swaths the year before.

[gwynplaine]

I'd be pretty cautious with Reglone, you typically have at most 7-10 days to get a crop off after application, and I doubt you'd get from 80% color change to 10% moisture and low green in that ammount of time. The reglone (or glyphosate, for that matter) won't speed maturity or seed drydown, what the reglone will do is burn up (or, desiccate) the green material so it will go through the combine. You'd probobly do better waiting till just proir to combining (like 12-14% moisture...) and then hitting it to desiccate the remaining green plants and weeds and so forth. I'm a little skeptical regarding Reglone on Thick, juicy plants like Canola... but I have heard sucess stories in Polish canola. Any experience out there?

[timm]

thanks for the info.what about spraying a fast forward mixture on rr straight cut canola.(liberty &glyphosate)

[gwynplaine]

The Fast Forward probly won't do a whole bunch, on RR canola. There's only like a 1/10 rate of the Liberty, and the glyphosate won't do anything besided perennial weed control.

I'm not really helping you much here, am I? The long and short of it, is the only real, effective, consistant way to speed drydown of canola is to knock it down.

[timm]

persistance always pays off they say.how about a 10$ rate of liberty as compared to reglone.perenials really arent a problem .i really detest swathing,there has to be a better way.i talked to a farmer who grows 2153 LL because of the lodging ,sprays roundup on it then straight cuts,hes been straight cutting canola for 10 yrs.hes even lobbyed seed developers for more natural lodging ability in newer varieties

[gwynplaine]

If it's lodging you're after, even the newer Invigors fall over. I recommend 2663 or 5070... a few days longer maturity, but significantly more yeild. You can manipulate your canopy, as well. Canola height is determined by heat recieved at small stages (prior to rosette). More heat, early, leads to a taller crop (hence, the shortness of fall-seeded canola). Delay your seeding date untill ambient temperatures are higher, and bump your seeding rate a bit to promote a more even, early crop. The plants will grow taller, and lodge more easily... higher cost involved, however, and you run the risk of sacrificing a bit of yield by seeding later.

I'm curious about the farmer you'd talked to who regularly sprays Roundup on his 2153... what has he said, with regards to timing of application, and subsequent effenct on drydown? In my experience, it's too inconsistant, and typical application is made too late in the year to have any real effect on drydown. I'm in the North side of the mid-season zone, however, and am not familiar with results from warmer climates.

Haven't seen the $10 rate of liberty used, timm, so I'm hesitant to speculate. I'd imagine it will desiccate the pods and upper stems somewhat, but I still really can't see it drying the main stems down any significant degree. That may, however, be enough for your purposes... application still has to be made ~1 week prior to harvest, though.

I'm interested in anyone else's thoughts, comments and experience...

[timm]

the farmer is from Mundare Alta.(1 hr east of Vegerville) and combines 10-11 days after application of roundup.i assume crop stage is similar to swathing.they said if left to late there would be more shatter from sprayer tracks.John Mayco from canola council gave me his name.