(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Pea and Lentil Agronomy

Doing the little things right for higher yields

Jan 16, 2020 | 3:35 PM

Many farmers attended a session at the Cropsphere conference hoping to learn how to get better pea and lentil crops.

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers agronomy manager Sherilyn Phelps’ presentation was on maximizing yields by optimizing agronomy.

Farmers are seeing success in reaching those higher yields. She said the environment definitely has a role to play, but it’s also about managing all the little things.

“Consider all the factors that are under a grower’s control from variety selection to your seeding rate, seed quality, fertility and pest management,” she said. “Weed control is a big thing. Look at herbicide layering and early weed control with some residual products followed up by in-crop applications. Plant densities help with competition so increasing your plant density can help with weed control. Then you have diseases. Manage disease when the risks are there.”

Phelps said insects can have a significant impact on yields.

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“When they’re there, they’re a pest that can remove or rob the crop of some of that potential,” Phelps said.

Phelps said once you’ve done all of that work, then comes fall. Harvest management needs to be considered even more.

“You have all this grain sitting out there. You want to try and get as much of it as you can into the grain bin,” she said. “Harvest management strategies like optimum timing of your desiccants as well as combine settings are very important to actually get that grain in the bin.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF