Growing Season Overview

Cool, wet conditions prevailed during May and June in Manitoba, resulting in delayed seeding and slow crop growth at the start of the season. By the end of May, the majority of the province had received more than 150% of normal rainfall. Some areas, like Eden, had even received more than 300% of normal rainfall. The Northwest region experienced a truly challenging spring, with many unseeded acres by crop insurance deadlines.

With all this rain, cropping plans needed to change on a dime and this showcased the flexibility of soybeans. Seeding dates for this crop are flexible throughout the month of May and respectable yields can still be achieved into June. In terms of rotation planning, in many fields we can often get away with soybeans-on-soybeans in a pinch, largely since our more challenging soybean diseases aren’t known to occur at great levels in Manitoba. We don’t want to do this every year, but when plans need to change, soybeans have that flexibility.

Saturated soil conditions and tight seeding timelines meant that rolling operations were tough to sneak in for many soybean and dry bean fields. By the time many folks pulled into their fields with the roller, they noticed those beans were starting to poke through and were at the susceptible hook stage for breakage. This meant some non-stony fields went unrolled and, in those fields where stones necessitate rolling, post-emergent rolling operations were carefully timed to hit V1 on a hot day when plants were flexible.

These cool, wet conditions were followed by high winds that caused severe sandblasting damage in some regions, leading to reseeding in some dry bean and soybean fields. Fields that weren’t reseeded experienced some maturity delays but otherwise regrew and branched to fill in gaps in the plant stand.

The combination of winds, cool temperatures and saturated soils created challenging conditions for timely herbicide applications. Applications made in windy conditions resulted in off-target movement of herbicides to neighbouring fields in some areas. Saturated soils prevented field access in portions of several fields and cool temperatures meant weeds were growing slowly, limiting herbicide uptake and activity. Despite these weather conditions working against us, many were pleasantly surprised with how effective weed control worked out on their farms this year. The benefits of an effective pre-plant or pre-emergent herbicide program really shined.

For peas, prolonged saturated conditions in several fields resulted in rampant root rot infections by late June. This was especially apparent on fields with a history of peas. Aphanomyces root rot testing was encouraged to help plan for future rotations.

Pea leaf weevils are relatively new insect pest in Manitoba that expanded their range once again this year. Now, pea leaf weevils have been confirmed as far east as Stonewall. Thankfully, their populations appeared to decrease this year in the heaviest hit regions in the Northwest.

In late June and early July as soybeans reached V2-V3, IDC symptoms were common to spot in many fields with crop yellowing visible from the road. Excess soil moisture is one of the conditions, along with soil carbonates, soluble salts and nitrate levels that contribute to IDC development. Most fields grew through IDC by V6, with symptoms persisting longer in susceptible varieties.

Temperatures increased in mid-July, and accumulated growing degree days caught up to normal for most of the province. Humid conditions persisted within the crop canopy and diseases began to flourish in areas that received more moisture.