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Seeding nears completion

Jun 11, 2020 | 1:25 PM

Farmers just have a few fields to finish seeding. The provincial crop indicated roughly 98 per cent of the crop has been planted.

Most regions of the province received at least some rainfall during the reporting period with west central and northwest regions receiving heavy rain. St. Walburg had the highest amount of precipitation at 154 millimeters.

The rains have helped pea and lentil crops get off to a good start but with surplus moisture there is the potential for root rots according to Saskatchewan Pulse Growers agronomy specialist Sherrilyn Phelps.

“That issue starts rearing its head right now. We’ll see shortly if there are any implications with some of this moisture,” Phelps said. “The root rots we are faced with are the aphanomyces in pea and lentil. It needs moisture in order to move to roots and affect the plant.”

Root rot usually comes along with fusarium. Phelps said when that happens it’s dynamite.

“We were fortunate enough last year being a dry spring and quite dry going into later June, so we didn’t have too many incidents of severe root rot,” she said.

Phelps said the wind has continued to affect a farmer’s ability to control weeds.

“There is likely some weed control going on in crop and guys have been trying to time it between these winds which is a challenge,” Phelps said.

Dry conditions in the South have delayed emergence of smaller seeded crops like canola and flax.

Seeding is 99 per cent complete in the south east and southwest. The east central, northwest and west central regions are at 98 per cent complete while the northeast is close behind at 97 per cent.

alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF