The span of rainy days in the southwestern corner of the province was a welcome relief as farmers were heading into the spring seeding season on very dry land.
Applied Research and Crop Specialist with WADO, Scott Chalmers, felt the area between Reston and Souris had the most rainfall.
"Around Melita here, we got just over 2 inches and over at Reston they got just over 3 inches," shares Chalmers. "And I think the fields have really absorbed a lot of that. There is some water laying around in low spots and maybe in the lower areas that are flat. But I think by next week the weather looks pretty fair for getting back to seeding."
"I think a lot of farmers had been pushing before the rain to get as many acres covered as possible. I think some were holding out to maybe do canola later after the rain so the danger of frost has passed. And you know, I think putting in the canola early has a bit of a risk, not only with frost, but it was very dry. We were quite far behind in our normal rainfall or precipitation amounts over winter too," he explains.
"Having two to three inches in this area was a very good thing, kind of priming the year for our investments," adds Chalmers.
Chalmers says he was surprised how cool the soil was, despite having a week or more of 30° plus weather. "Before the rain we had put some corn in, kind of at the tail end of the hot weather hoping to get this rain. And I went and checked it yesterday and it still hasn't really imbibed moisture. It's just kind of sitting in the ground waiting for a hot day. But I do see our cereals which are, you know, cool season crops, they're emerging or maybe even 2 to 3 leaf by now if they got in first. And they look really good."
It's now time for some heat to warm up the soil and get things on the go, says Chalmers. "Any weed that was a seed is going to grow, whether it was on top of the ground or in the ground. Farmers should have a good burn off plan, ahead of seeding, for example, or in crop," he adds.
Please listen to more with Scott Chalmers below!
Chalmers encourages farmers to stay on top of scouting for weeds. "Make sure you've got your herbicide plan, what you would expect on your farm. Not every farm is the same. There are some other farms out there that maybe used straight Roundup too often and have definite Roundup issues."
"And just keep aware of some the different things that are going on in the industry with weeds," he adds. "Now that we have moisture, we're going to have weeds and it's best to stay on top of that."