Author: Doug Grandel

Soil salinity can occur naturally or be caused by practices used on the farm – continuously irrigating with water that has a high salt concentration, for example. While some crops are tolerant to saline soils, high concentrations of some salts can be toxic to others. Salinity can also hinder a plant’s uptake of water and […]

The 2019 growing season started of dry across most of Western Canada and turned wet starting about mid-summer all the way through to winter snow fall, including an October blizzard in parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Now, over 4.2 million acres (2.5M in Saskatchewan; 1.6M in Alberta and over 260,000 in Manitoba) are still […]

Soil pH is a key factor in farmland as it controls availability of nutrients, microbial activity and crop productivity. Before delving into what causes soils to become acid or alkaline and the steps to take to treat and correct soil pH, we must first establish what is considered an optimal pH for crop production. The […]

The Weather Network has just released their three-month summer forecast and it looks like it’ll be another interesting season – from hotter temperatures in B.C., to cooler temperatures in Ontario and Quebec, and a mixed bag across the Prairies. After a spring that can best be described as reluctant, here in Saskatchewan we should expect […]

Boron (B) plays a key role in a wide range of physiological processes that allow plants to germinate, grow, reproduce and remain healthy. No wonder it’s the first nutrient that plants seek! Boron is critical to the growth of pollen tubes, germination of pollen grains and fertilization, and helps to ensure good grain fill. A […]

All crops can be sensitive to heat stress, especially during the flowering stage. Even short periods of heat stress during flowering and grain fill can cause substantial yield losses. Flowering, one of the most important stages in a crop’s life cycle, often happens during the hottest days of summer. As the plant is shifting the […]

Starter fertilizers get crops off to a great start by providing nutrition that might not otherwise be available due to cold, wet spring seeding conditions. The result is vigorous plants that establish quickly and are better able to compete with weeds, tolerate early-season stresses, pests and diseases. Starters contain a supply of nutrients, strategically placed […]

Molybdenum (Mo) is a trace element but it has a big job. A good, albeit small, supply of molybdenum improves nitrogen uptake and conversion in plants. Molybdenum is a co-factor in the enzyme nitrate reductase (the enzyme which catalyzes the first reaction in the formation of organic nitrogen compounds to inorganic). It helps plants utilize […]

Playing a key role in a wide range of processes within the plant, boron (B) is a micronutrient that is essential to crop health. It is important to the cellular structure of the plant, contributing to cell wall formation and stability. It is a factor in cell division and elongation, protein synthesis, metabolism and transport of […]

Magnesium (Mg) is a secondary nutrient and the only mineral component of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants. Without magnesium, there would be no chlorophyll and without chlorophyll, there would be no photosynthesis. Besides being integral to the process of capturing and converting sunlight to energy, magnesium also helps a plant efficiently use carbon dioxide […]