Swath timing for these fields becomes a balance between potential shelling on the main stem and waiting for final seeds on side branches to firm up. Uneven crop. Hail earlier in the season or poor establishment from the start can cause various maturity levels in one field. If half the plants are ready and half are just beginning SCC, consider waiting three or four days. Frost is forecast.
This often requires three good drying days — so swathing has to occur at least three days before the frost to achieve this benefit. If the crop is green, growers may want to take a chance that the frost will be light, knowing the crop needs more time to mature. Frost has occurred. If plants are severely damaged, pods will often take on a white, wilted appearance. This is a sign that pods are desiccating, which will quickly lead to pod shatter and pod drop, especially with warm sunny afternoons.
If pods are desiccating rapidly, swathing right away will preserve as much yield as possible. If pods do not appear to be severely damaged, then continue monitoring rather than swathing right away. Hot days. With day time highs in the 30s or high 20s, wait for cooler days before swathing. Speed reduction is important to prevent overthreshing of pods and stems and overloading the sieves. Cracked canola is caused by impact when the cylinder speed is too fast.
Examine the threshed seed for cracked canola. Push your arm into the seeds and observe if cracked canola seed pieces stick to your skin or hair on your arm. Reduce cylinder speeds if excessive cracking does occur. Fan speed should be set low to avoid blowing canola seed out with the chaff. This will allow large amounts of pods in the return.
Start with low fan speed and increase gradually until separation of chaff and seed occurs with no canola being blown over the chaffer sieve. Canola storage and handling problems are similar to those of flax. The seed is round, small, heavy and runs freely. Very tight truck boxes and storage bins are required. If harvested at high moisture, natural air drying or artificial drying can be used.
To maintain seed quality, a drying temperature of F or less is recommended for commercial production. If a significant amount of foreign material straw is included with the seed, running it over a scalper before drying and binning may be advantageous. Publications Accessibility. The timing of swathing canola is important for quality and yield.
This publication provides information about the proper stage to swath canola and the effect of swathing time on yield, green seed and percent oil.
A description is provided about how to set the swather and combine to optimize the yield and quality of canola. Availability: Web only. Proper Stage to Swath Canola Swathing canola at the optimum stage of ripening reduces green seed problems and seed shatter losses and ensures the quality required for top grades and prices.
Figure 1. Canola field ready to swath. Figure 3. Plants at various maturity stages. Figure 4. Change in pod maturity. Figure 5. Change in pod and seed maturity. Figure 6. Seed color and maturity changes. Effect of Swathing Time on Yield, Green Seed and Oil Studies in North Dakota and Minnesota have been conducted to show the relationship of seed color change at swathing time to yield, seed size, green seed and percent of oil Table 1.
Swathing Canola Canola is harvested with the same swather and combine equipment as cereal grains, although the crops are quite different. Cutting Height The swather should be run just low enough to get all the seed pods, leaving the maximum amount of stubble in which to anchor the windrow and ensure adequate air circulation through the windrow. Figure 7. Properly swathed canola. Swather Table and Throat The average crop of canola is handled quite readily with most swathers.
Reel and Dividers The reel should be set as high and far forward as possible. Figure 8. Swather equipped with vertical cutter bar. Swath Rollers In areas where windrows could be lifted and blown by the wind, a light roller pulled behind the swather will help anchor the windrow in the stubble Figure 9.
Figure 9. Rolling a canola swath. Sometimes pods on the same plant will have wildly varying maturities. Because canola crops are so stagey, determining when to swath and when to wait is keeping more than a few farmers up at night. Purpling can be a result of sun exposure rather than an indicator of ripeness.
Get out of the truck and open up some pods. Before you swath, seeds from pods on the main stem must be changing colour, and seeds from pods on side branches must at least be firm and not mushy. You will recall that we got to this point after a dry early spring that was followed by lots of insect pressure. This made for thinner plant stands, which received lots of rain from July on. However, by cutting early you guarantee a yield loss due to early swathing.
So make sure the disease risk is there. And if disease is the cause, are these lodged patches going to yield enough to drive the harvest method decision? Pre-harvest aids. Lodging will make it harder for the herbicide to be effective, but by increasing the water volumes, you can achieve better penetration into the canopy and likely increase your efficacy. Check the labels for water volume recommendation and make sure you are on the high end of the recommendation for best penetration with contact herbicides.
Also, higher pressure and smaller droplets will allow for better penetration into the canopy on both lodged crops and crops with a thick canopy. You can also check your provincial Crop Production guides for reference. When choosing to apply any pesticides close to swathing or straight cutting timing, be sure to follow the appropriate Pre-Harvest Intervals PHIs , provided to you at spraytoswath.
Reason for lodging. Are some fields lodged and others not? It could be isolated storm events, like hail or heavy rain. Or high fertility.
Plant size. Note anything risk factors that could be improved next year with different management decisions. Get full access NOW to the most comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use online resource for no-tillage practices.
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