Winter Wheat

[craig]

I've been fielding a number of calls lately about seeding winter wheat on ground too wet to seed this spring. With this in mind a partnership between Ducks Unlimited, Reduced tillage Linkages and the Alberta winter wheat Commission are planning some winter wheat tours the last week in June in Central Alberta. Two are planned on the 26th west of Red Deer and north of Tees. On the 27th one is planned for Lacombe. It was felt that it was important that producers understand what is needed to produce a successful winter wheat crop. The key message is that producers do not plan on seeding on bare summerfallow. Winter wheat has the potential of working well for producers this year and hopefully overcome potential problems if we have another wet spring next year. Will provide more details later this week.

[Ron]

I was just about to post a message to you in comm marketing but decided it belonged here. Great timing Craig.
Will winter wheat outyield CPS here in a normal year? (I know about earlier combining, rotation etc. just curious about yield monitor numbers).
Thanks
Ron

[craig]

Ron
I usually tell producers that winter wheat will yield comparable or possibly a little better than CPS provided it comes through the winter in good shape.That said we are comparing comperable plant stands. Gentically we would expect winter wheat to out yield CPS just because it has a longer growing season. The problem in Western Canada is that KVD issues have stifle breeding efforts. It is worth noting that soft wheat winter varieties will yield another 5 to 15 % better than other wheats. There is one variety that was currently re registered and some other material not far away. This shows great potential if the ethanol industry takes off. My best yields were just under the 100 bushel range and even with poorer stands I have seldom been below 60 to 70. This years crop looks good but suffering from too much water an possible disease issues. Was set to do a field with fungicide yesterday but amazing how 2 inches of rain will set you back. Too wet to spray now.