By Alice McFarlane

Manitoba crops either too wet or too dry

Jun 24, 2020 | 2:33 PM

Most of the crops in Manitoba are off to a good start.

Provincial crop specialist Dane Froese said spring seeding is essentially complete with a few locations reporting unseeded acres too wet to seed this spring.

“Crop insurance deadlines have now passed. Producers looking at getting that ground covered might look at a greenfeed option to get something in the ground and help reduce some upcoming hay shortages,” Froese said.

Scattered thunderstorms brought significant amounts of rain over the weekend to parts of the eastern, central, and Interlake regions. Some areas also received hail.

Froese said given the recent rains and cooler temperatures, soil surface moisture is rated fair to good to excessive in central areas where there was more rain this week. In the eastern district cropland and pastures remained saturated in the worst affected areas.

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Froese said the southwest, northwest regions and the northern Interlake continue to be dry and could use rain.

“The southwest region had cooler and drier weather conditions last week which slowed crop development and delayed herbicide applications when the crop is in the right window,” he said. “Strong winds made is challenging for safe applications.”

Froese said spring cereals are doing well.

“They’re getting tillers and stem elongation is happening in the southern part of the region. Spring cereals are generally in excellent condition though weed control has been a challenge.”

Pasture conditions are a concern. Froese said they are in poor shape in the northwest.

“If we don’t get significant rainfall soon producers will be tasked with making some difficult decisions over the next couple of weeks on how to manage and provide winter feed for their herds which is compounded by the fact there is little to no carryover of feed,” Froese said.

Diamondback moth trap numbers are increasing, but quite variable due to the fluctuating temperatures and winds. Trap numbers this week have ranged from 17 to 50 but the Warren area, north west of Winnipeg remains the highest with an accumulated count of 225 with larvae starting to emerge.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF