plants per square foot. For example, this
spring he’ll be seeding Stettler wheat
weighing 39 grams per 1,000 kernels at
a rate of 120 pounds, or two bushels per
acre, to achieve the desired plant count.
“We can target a seeding rate, but the
one unknown is the survival rate,” said
Finster. “And you don’t know that until
the crop comes up. We plan on about a
20 per cent mortality. We find with barley
that, if we can seed it a bit later into nice,
warm soil, it comes out of the ground fast
and is very competitive with weeds. And
the later seeding date works with barley
because it matures faster.”
Most years, Finster plans to seed peas
and/or wheat first in the spring, canola is
seeded at about the mid-point, and oats
and barley are seeded later.
“And the other thing we’ve found
with barley is that it prefers lighter sandy
loam and peat-type soils,” he said. “On
the heavier soils, if you get too much
moisture, barley doesn’t like to have wet
feet, so it grows better on well-drained
soils.”
RECOMMENDED SEEDING RATES
Finster’s approach to a barley seeding
rate is right in the ballpark of what most
researchers recommend for barley and,
in fact, most cereal crop production—
keep the seeding rate up so you’re
achieving 22 to 30 and perhaps even
40 plants per square foot. That might
be considered a heavy seeding rate or
high plant count, but those numbers
will increase the ability of the crop to
compete with weeds and also help
produce more even crop maturity.
According to Harry Brook, AARD crop
specialist at the Ag Info Centre in Stettler,
producers in the black soil zone should
be targeting 25 to 30—even up to 40—
plants per square foot under optimum
growing conditions. The plant count
should be somewhat less in the brown
soil zone where moisture is often the
limiting factor.
“Farmers should start with a target
plant population in mind,” said Brook.
“And of course, that will vary with soil and
moisture conditions. Producers should
aim for the higher rates in the black soil
zone, and most years, although not
always, lower rates in the brown soil zone
because traditionally it is drier.”
Brook recommended farmers
determine a seeding rate by using
the 1,000-kernel weight formula (the
calculator is available on AARD’s
website).
“There is such variability in crops,” he
said. “One batch of seed could weigh
60 pounds per bushel and another one
48 pounds. And in that heavier bushel
you are going to get fewer seeds. So
that 1,000-kernel weight will eliminate
guesswork.”
Brook said that while barley tillers out
less than wheat, those tillers mean the
crop will have different stages or later
overall maturity.
“We’ve had more cool, wet springs
that have delayed seeding, which means
crops are later maturing,” said Brook.
“And on the other end, there is a chance
of an early killing frost in September.
So farmers need to do what they can to
shorten crop maturity and reduce the risk
of running into frost damage.”
John O’Donovan, a research scientist
with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(AAFC) in Lacombe, said the results of
21 site years of research looking at malt
barley seeding rates show that targeting
300 seeds per square metre (about 30
seeds per square foot) appears to be
the optimum rate for malt barley yield
and quality.
“One of the issues has been that
maltsters are looking for kernel
plumpness, so many farmers were
using lower seeding rates to increase
plumpness,” said O’Donovan. “But we
found if the seeding rate was too low,
bad things happened.”
For one, lower seeding rates increased
the number of non-uniform kernels.
The more uniform the kernels, the more
malt quality is improved. Also, at lower
seeding rates, there is more tillering and
later maturity.
“Overall, we found that by going from
200 seeds per square metre to 300
seeds per square metre, we achieved
higher yields, more uniform kernels and
Spring
2015
grainswest.com
33
Need FoR seed:
On Gerald Finster’s farm, he aims for 22 plants per square foot for barley
and 25 plants per square foot for wheat. Photo courtesy of Gerald Finster.
