Canola seed size for planting?

[Guest]

Will agree with your assessment on seed size and vigour , also better tolerance to light frosts . Have seen 4 TKW seed nearly wiped out and 6 TKW only loose 10-20% .
We will get 20-22 ac per bag on seed size 5 tkw or less , but with planter accuracy drops the smaller the seed size . Best seems to be 5.5 to 6.5 , above that accuracy stays the same .
Try to target 190,000 in good conditions , up to 220,000 seeds /ac if dry or a bit early .
Range 25 - 15 ac / 25 kg bag depending on seed size and environmental conditions.
Will adjust rates even with bags sold by seed size depending on conditions and / or timing of seeding . Always a bit heavier if before the 15Th of May .
Beetles generally not an issue unless frost has damaged seedlings . But again if using larger seed , flea damage is significantly less due to vigour .
It’s quite a balancing act between seed timing , soil moisture , soil temperature and seed size along with growing conditions the first two weeks after emergence

You're obviously way ahead of the game with the planter. What do you make of this volunteer plant though. Pic taken mid June south coast near Esperance. No fert, no insecticide, no fungicide, no herbicides.

[furrowtickler]

Spring frosts of -6c or more can thin stand quickly. Disc seeders are most susceptible to frost damage, plants are not in trench like 'hoe' planters... why we gave up on disc seeders... mortality was twice as much in zero till.

Yup that is a concern , that’s why a blackened seed row is important, something you can’t get with a disc drill or precision placement. Both make a huge difference. In a total zero till situation you are right . We’ve seen that as well . One of the reasons we went to a coulter harrow to manage crop residue better and leave the soil slightly blacker .
Also very low seed row toxicity with just Alpine in seed row . Makes huge difference for survivability . Next to zero salt load in or near seed row. Helps keep plant sugar levels higher lowering frost damage as wel

[Guest]

Oops forgot to attach this

[furrowtickler]

Oops forgot to attach this

Yup see that lots around bins , shops and sheds
But also out in the fields where individual plants have space to grow .
I have seen plants as big or even twice that size when scouting fields where a planter and or seeder has not turned on fast enough on headlands or in wet areas where other plants have drowned out but a few made er. Nothing most of us have not seen before .

[furrowtickler]

Here is an example of stubble from canola planted at 2 lbs and canola seeded at 5 lbs .. tells the same kinda story ..

5 lbs with seed drill


2 lbs with planter

What do you think the plants looked like during peak growing season ?
I know , I have seen the difference for over 5 years , every year . And also when using a planter and PP , fungicide use has been near zero . Healthier plants and air movement reduces plant disease dramatically. Disease starts with spindly plants the vast majority of the time . Why ? Because spindly plants have lower sugar levels right from the get go .
Seen this in peas seeded with planter as well , low areas that generally fall down from disease pressure are nearly non existent when planted on 15 in rows and 1.5 bus / ac rate . But that just common sense . Is it applicable on every farm in every climate zone .. probably not .

[poorboy]

How are guys using planters for canola getting their fertilizer on?

If a second pass, that would burn up the savings on lowers seed rates pretty quick.

[furrowtickler]

How are guys using planters for canola getting their fertilizer on?

If a second pass, that would burn up the savings on lowers seed rates pretty quick.

With todays fuel costs that is a concern for sure now. We put on just liquid phos with our current set up
Savings on seed is only part of it. The planter is very efficient at seeding time and a 40 ft machine can cover the same ac/hr as a 75ft drill with far less fuel costs. Fungicide in canola for the most part here is not necessary. Emergence is fast and seedlings are more robust due to no salt in seed row, and they do seem to withstand frost and beetles better.
We have done NH3 in the fall, floated N on in the fall, early spring or after planting. We have also streamed 28-0-0 on , 1/2 before seeding and 1/2 after. We have streamed 28-0-0 on late in fall as well. end of the day they all work , some applications not as ideal as others but when doing tissue samples in late June, and yield comparisons there seems to be very little difference in any application.
Top dressing can also be done in a wide window for a further top up of 20-40 lbs N if conditions allow or more is required after a tissue sample.
going forward now with the high cost of fuel and N we may have to rethink the whole planter idea , time will tell. Planters do require more maintenance than a hoe drill as well. Has worked well for us but by no means the end all be all.

We moved to Bio-sul 5 years ago for our S source on most fields.

[blackpowder]

More canola info on this thread than in any glossy mag.

[beaverdam]

More canola info on this thread than in any glossy mag.

Yup, great to read the discussion.

Seems some will be seekin' large seed, others are fine with smaller seed, then there's myself, who'll be trying for 50lb bags, I'm accustomed to.

[blackpowder]

Furrow. What make/style of planter are you using or what would you rather use?
Our future plan has a planter in it hopefully. Your pictures speak for themselves. Thanks.

[goalieguy847]

Darnit, had a big long post but she didnt get thru the snow i guess into the interweb...

We bought a planter last yr norht of Edmonton half hour. Took me a week to figure out how to unfold it ( not joking, but was due to a rats nest and dead squished rat that was blocking a ram...gross.. absolutely gross)

Ran the planter sidex with our conservapac which we consider to be fantastic at germinating canola.
Plant counts 1nce a week..full proper trial.
Planter at 220 k seeds/ac resulted in seeding rate of 2.35 lbs/ acre.
Conservapac ( 1870) was 4.8 lbs/ ac. Yield was identical of 31.5 BPA. ( not great but had less than 1 inch of moisture after june 10th so.. pretty good actually!)


Planter plants/sq meter were high 40s low 50s. ( avgd 51)
Drill was significantly higher at 65 to 70. ( but understandably as 12 inch spacing vs 15 with planter)
Mortality ( death rate) thru planter was 4 percent.
1870 was 26.

We wasted 1.5 lbs/ ac of canola before the seed even came out of the ground.
Thats where the planter wins..every acre we save 33$ in JUST canola seed.

Plus the agronomics and economics of it are a huge win.

40ft planter with 1000 gallon liquid tank needs all of 250 hp to pull around and even with full hydraulic drive metering and 3 section control it still needs peanuts for hydraulics ( 30 gpm tops)
Plus you can run 2 rigs and seed twice as much in a day ( yeah yeah i know manpower...etc..). With diesel going up..def thru thr roof...how much HP does a 76 foot drill require ( not to mention hydraulic flow) .
The main reason we bought a planter is because we were too cheap to go find 78 gpm flow in a tractor!


The guys with planters arent ruining it for everyone else.. i actually believe they are showing us the way. Every farm should have a seedmaster with canola pro metering or a planter on their farm within 5 yrs.
( weve used our for all of 120 acres last yr and 30 more in a bayer trial) and i am already a huge huge huge believer. We have lots of pics and vids if anyone is interested ( which i know we all are). Feel free to message me for any more info.

I Know alot of people like to pick holes in things they dont believe in ( the usual comments i get are incredibly obnoxious like ive hurt someones mother) but my rebuttle is always this.

Every single seed company..

Every single one.

Uses a planter in their trials.
Why?

[furrowtickler]

Furrow. What make/style of planter are you using or what would you rather use?
Our future plan has a planter in it hopefully. Your pictures speak for themselves. Thanks.

We have a Horsch Maestro, 15/30 . Can be used on 15 in or 30 in for corn .
Has all electric drive seed motors so you can actually run on different speeds at the same time .
The individual shut off per seed row is nice
Very well built
I wish it had a small saddle canola tank like bourgault has. Then one could use the main tanks for dry fertilizer or replace them with liquid tanks like the 800 gal one already on board .
Not to familiar with other brands . I am sure they all have decent features nowadays .
We like the Horsch because of the quality build and precision with canola up too 10 mph if conditions are very good and seed size is 5.5 or higher . We usually run 7-7.5 mph.
Can really go quick when planting corn .
Planted canola , soybeans , black beans and peas with it so far . Very accurate and consistent.

[furrowtickler]

Individual seed row shut off .

[blackpowder]

Okay, now I'm drooling.
I worry about 15" row spacing in dry country though. Any way or reason to tighten that up?

[furrowtickler]

Okay, now I'm drooling.
I worry about 15" row spacing in dry country though. Any way or reason to tighten that up?

I would say no worries . In the past 5 years we have been very dry in 3 of those and don’t see any downside there . In fact I would see it as a benefit as long as your weed control is adequate and timely .