“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” tune keeps going through my head. Sorry for the delay in posting anything not sure where the summer has gone. After seeding we got a week before spraying started and soon our moisture concerns went from worries of too much to when will we get a little shower to help germinate all the seeds. We had ample moisture to get the crops started but always nice to have a rain to “freshen” things up. ‎ That rain didn’t come until well into June. 

Spraying was a treat this year, crops looked great and we have 4000 acres sprayed without a sprayer track. I can’t remember the last time this was the case. 2011 was the first year with a high clearance sprayer and it was every year since then and even before then that we had heavy June rains that drowned out sloughs and it was quicker/easier to just go through them than around so we had ruts over most of our land to fix up in the fall, not to mention bounce over during harvest. 

Despite the delayed rain our crops are looking amazing, hence my opening comment. Last night Marie and I were out scouting and I’m getting very excited for this year’s harvest. The weather conditions have been very favorable for crop development. A little late in the timing of the rains but with the abundance of soil moisture from the last years our crops were able to send roots down and utilize the moisture. 

We have sprayed a bit of fungicides but very glad with the weather conditions we did not do every acre like some years. Peas are a must as they are very susceptible as is barley so those acres got sprayed. Our soft white wheat is also very disease prone so we sprayed it right at the heading stage to help protect the kernels. As a trial, we also sprayed one quarter (160ac) of hard red wheat and 80 ac of canola just to see if it makes a difference so we will know for next year. 

Our pea crop looks absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen a crop like this. They are waste high, which is very unusual for peas and loaded with pods that have up to 10 seeds in some. It will be like Christmas morning for a 6 year old when I finally get to put the header into that crop, fingers crossed nothing  ‎adversely happens between now and then.  

So far no insect problems have been detected. We were scouting for aphids in our canary seed and there are some but very few, nothing that would warrant spraying, so that is a relief. Canary seed is chest high and headed out very nice. Marie says she can already feel the itch from it, oh it’s not that bad I keep telling her. Â

Our canola is up to my neck in most spots with a lot of pods. Logan and I went into our 46h75 Clearfield canola and it looks to have the best yield potential. We took some pods that looked longer than we are used to and they measured 3.5 inches long which is pretty impressive. We just might have a new variety to put in the mix in future years. 

I love this time of the year and could spend all my time driving around looking at the crops, especially when there is something to look at. I try and limit it to evenings when I’m tired from the hot day working on various projects like getting equipment ready for harvest, picking rocks and working spots that were left from the road builders and building some bins for us to store our crops in. 

Updates will be more regular now I promise so make sure you check back regularly to see how 2015 is shaping up for us.