Gerry Willerth

Gerry Willerth

Biographical Sketch

-Farms 1250 acres near Indian Head, SK for the last 33 years

-Soil is Indian Head Heavy Clay - sure crop area

-Small commercial cow/calf operation

-Crops: Durum, Winter Wheat, Canola, Flax, Peas - Four year rotation

-Involved with soil conservation since 1973 when Gerry planted his entire farm with Colorado Spruce Field Shelterbelts

-Started low disturbance direct seeding in 1987

-Involved with district, regional, provincial and national soil conservation organizations

-Past president of Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association and Soil Conservation Council of Canada

-Married to Doreen - four adult children - eight grandchildren

-Twelve months from now, Doreen and Gerry will be on a warm beach in Australia as they will be escorting a tour "Downunder"

I farm four miles from Indian Head on Indian Head Heavy Clay in close proximity to the Indian Head Research Station and the AgrEvo Research Farm. Almost every year there are demonstration plots somewhere on my farm. Over the past 33 years excessive or untimely wet occasions have caused me more problems than the drier times.

I direct seed all of my cultivated acres on a four year rotation which is: Canola-Winter Wheat-Flax or Peas-Durum. One of my main problems is to have available ground to timely seed my Winter Wheat into, usually Canola stubble. Sometimes excessive amounts of trash on wet soils can be a major problem in the spring. Other reasons to try Dormant Seeded Canola include advancing harvest using longer days in a usually drier season. I can also take advantage of earlier delivery and sales at usually higher early crop prices. One of the most obvious benefits is to advance the bloom stage to June instead of the hot days of July. I use a Conserva Pak with 12 inch spacing and a FlexiCoil 1720 air delivery system. My fertilizer, all fall applied, for Canola is 80N-40P-0K-16S which is the maximum amount my air tank will handle. (260 lbs. of products)

For two years in 1995 and 1996, I seeded about 15 acres of plain Innovator Canola about the 10^th day of November. The temperature of the ground at one inch was one degree celsius. There was only one inch of frost however my seeding machine worked well. That is one good way to make your neighbours take a long look. Seed on November 10^th on a snow covered field when the temperature is minus 10 degrees celsius.

One problem I encountered was the moist soil from below one inch, would freeze to the outside of my fertilizer and seed tubes as a result of the minus 10 degree celsius air passing through the tubes. During spring seeding you can usually pull this mud and trash off with your hands but in mid November, you remove it with a hammer and chisel.

The crop next spring started emerging about mid April, the same time as any volunteer Canola would. I applied Liberty once about the first week of June. These crops appeared very slow to grow, had considerable amount of weeds and did not look very promising, almost disappointing. At swathing time the crop was only about 24 inches high and my estimate of the yield was approximately 10 bushels to the acre. Since I wasn’t expecting much, I left harvesting for about a month after swathing. After combining my ordinary Canola, which yielded about 22 bushels per acre I was pleasantly surprised that the fall seeded Canola yielded 28 bushels per acre.

In 1997, I could not find any Extender Coated Canola and did not seed any Canola in the fall.

When the fall of 1998 arrived, Grow Tec Inc. of Nisku, Alberta, supplied me with some L.G. 3295 with Extender Coating. I divided a 75 acre barley stubble field into three. The first third was seeded on October 23, 1998 into extremely wet soil after four inches of rain. The air temperature was 21 degrees celsius and the soil temperature at one inch was eight degrees celsius. I also seeded a check strip with bare seed. The second third was seeded with ordinary L.G. 3295 on November 6, 1998 when the air temperature was -6 degrees celsius and the soil temperature was 0 degrees celsius. The soil froze about three days later. The remaining third of this field was seeded on April 28, 1999. The air temperature was 18 degrees celsius and the soil had warmed to 4 degrees celsius. The seeding rate in all three portions of this field was 6.4 lbs. per acre. Roundup Original at 0.5 litres per acre mixed with Decis was sprayed twice on May 13th and June 7^th.

The fall seeded Canola was swathed on August 8^th and combined on August 22^nd. The spring seeded Canola was swathed four days later on August 12^th and combined on August 29^th. The yield for the fall seeded Extender Canola was 35 bushels per acre and the bare Canola seeded on November 6^th was 36 bushels per acre. The check strip seeded on October 23^rd produced about 2 bushels per acre. The spring seeded Canola yielded 32 bushels per acre. These yields would have been in the 40’s but some of the air tank deflector flaps had worn through and a considerable amount of fertilizer was placed directly with the seed causing a lot of seed burn drastically reducing the number of plants. Owners of FlexiCoil air tanks should be aware of this possible problem. This crop overall was excellent but not as tall as normal with pods almost to the ground.

My experiences with fall seeded Canola is as follows. It is very different seeding in the fall. If you can start seeding mid October, the seeding time factor is reduced. The soil may be just as moist but even through very heavy trash, my seeding machine worked very well. The soil is much firmer but the seeding machine did not pull any harder. The days in November are much shorter. It takes more days to seed. You cannot work on your machine in shirt sleeves, parkas are the rule!

Be aware of the possibility of additional Flea Beetle infestations. I sprayed at least one more time than on spring crops. The crop is much different. It blooms about two to three weeks earlier. The blossoms start right at the ground and it will bloom until it gets hot. I had to swath lower than normal, cut the crop rather green, and rolled it very heavy to stop my swaths from being wind blown. Combining is advanced at least two to four weeks and in my crop rotation I have available stubble to seed my Winter Wheat early.

In the fall of 1999, I seeded 80 acres of Extender Canola L.G. 3235 on two days October 16th and 18^th. There was very heavy trash and the soil was very moist. The air temperature was 15 degrees celsius and the soil temperature was 1 degrees celsius.

I also seeded on October 20, 1999, 50 acres of Canola - Extender Coated Invigor 2273. Some of these acres are a Demonstration Strip Trial (DST) with AgrEvo. Part of this DST, a check strip, includes some bare seed, seeded on October 20^th and again on November 2^nd when an additional 15 acres of Extender Coated seed were seeded. Another 15 acres of this DST will be seeded in the spring of 2000. This soil did not freeze until after November 25, 1999. If this crop survives the winter, it should make it any year ! I examined the seeds to check for germination about November 20, 1999, and the bare seed which was seeded on both October 20^th and November 2^nd had germinated so obviously those strips will have to be reseeded in the spring. The Extender Coated Canola did not appear to have sprouted but if the seeds absorbed any moisture, there is a chance that the seeds will not be viable in the spring 2000. Only time will tell!

I feel confident the yields achievable are at least as good as in the spring but could be significantly higher once all the kinks for this seeding technology are worked out.