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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-04-29, Page 20Times -Advocate, April 29, 1981 Huron farm and home news R Atrazine can damage crops,. At the winter meetings I was asked numerous times about growing certain crops if atrazine was applied the previous year The research that has been done is under controlled conditions. The recommendations that resulted from this reasearch has lots of C.Y.A. statements Cover Your Ac- cidents By this l mean the statements are very grey. The statements state - (1) "Generally no damage to barley it 2 lbs. of actual atrazine was applied the previous year. Further we say - 121 you can expect damage to alfalfa and white beans if you apply more than 1 lb. the previous year. These C.Y.A. statements are included because of overlap, wrong rates. interactions with other herbicides, carryover from previous years and just poor applica- tion techniques. The other factor that enters is breakdown rate. Breakdown rate is affected Neither wind, nor rain not sleet, nor hail shall worry the farmer that has crop insurance. cZr? Crop Insurance. Between you and nature. DONALD WEIGAND RR 1 Dashwood Ont. NOM 1 NO by weather. tillage and soil pH. Atrazine is broken down by the little critters in the soil that we call micro organisms. These guys are so small you can't see them. The amount of atrazine that they break down depends on the soil conditions that they live in. The quantity of rain- fall you get affects your atrazine carry over. However. atrazine does not wash down through the soil. But if you get plenty of rain during the summer atrazine is broken down. This combination of moisture and warmth is a good environment for the micro organisms. This good micro organism environ- ment means they break down more. Depth of tillage affects atrazine. If you plough deep, say more than 8 inches, you are burying the unused atrazine. The deeper this atrazine is buried the slower the micro organisms will work. they need air and warmth. Deeper in the soil, the less there is of both. If atrazine is put on as two splits you have 2 layers of atrazine. This also lessens the atrazine residue because there is less chance of a sampling is recommended for fields heavy dose at one root zone. Soil pH affects atrazine; es- pecially at pH's above 7.5 which will include a good portion of Perth and Huron Counties. The atrazine that is left at high pH's is more available and thus apt to do more damage. CORRYOVER ATRAZINE FROM PREVIOUS YEARS A sleeper factor is the rate applied the previous year. Atrazine generally breaks down at 80 to 90(. If you applied 1 lb. atrazine in 1980 you would be safe to plant beans or alfalfa in 1981. However, if you applied 2 lbs. of atrazine on the same field in 1979 there would be .2 to .4 lbs. active carryover into 1980. This now changes the picture. Now you have 1.2 to 1.4 lbs. active atrazine in 1980 and this would probably damage beans or alfalfa in 1981. If you are border line for rates you can have your field checked. Take samples from three areas in the field. This sampling technique should cover the variables in the fil- ed that affect breakdown. Take one sample from the headland, one from a high area and the other from an average area. Each area should be about CCAT BROOMBALL WINNERS -- Awards were'presented to the top members of the Centralia College men's broomball team at Thursday's annual recognition night. Above, former staff member Peter Mason, presents trophies to Johr1'Eppen- burger• Dale Donaldson, Steve Howard and Bill Morrison. T -A photo --J11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111L Dietrich Metal Products ` Manufacturer of Metal Trim Sales of Steel Siding Farm Building Construction Concrete Forming Complete Building Sales Self -Erected Structures 1 1/4 Miles West of Mt. Carmel and forE 1/2 Mile South =R.R.## 8 Parkhill Phone 294-6940- a 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 A The lid is going to blow in rural Canada. When it blows, it will not only hit the roof but go right through the ceiling. Potato farmers in Prince Edward Island are being warned that last year's high prices for a record crop was a fluke. They are being told to cut back on production and save what they made last year for a lean year ahead. Quebec hog farmers and broiler chicken producers are being told that the fair SPRING SALE DOMTAR ASPHALT SHINGLES 59 bdl. • Approx. 32 sq. ft. • 7 colours in Stock DECKING & FENCING Western Red Cedar 2"x4" 34a 2"x6" 63a 2"x8" 84a 4"x4" 814 1"x6" D4S 494 - EXCELLENT QUALITY - Lin ft. Lin ft. Lin ft. Lin ft. Lin ft FARMING SPECIALS 1"x12" Rough Pine e.. e e e e 1"x6" Rough Hemlock e. ,. e • • 1"x8" Rough Hemlock . . e • • 2"x6"- 16' Rough Hemlock . e • 2"x8"-16' Rough Hemlock • • Rough Hemlock . • • • SHOP CO-OP FOR YOUR BUILDING SUPPLY NEEDS 43< /ft. . . 204/ ft. . . 30</ ft. . . 35</ft. . 49( /ft. 1.131 /ft. EXETER DISTRICT CO-OP Hours: Mon. to hl. 8:00 cm. to 5:00 p.m. No Saturday Delivery Sat. 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 Neon Ewer 235-2051' e lootinthe rrotv' bYg..70 ,engin e•e eco•ea.ued by Roo e.one. Em* Rd Elm -e Oo, N3S 2C prices (fair?) they got last year are going to bottom out this year. Ontario farmers, especial- ly beef and hog producers, are suffering record -high bankruptcies. They are cry- ing for relief to senior governments to stop high in- terest rates. `A group in south-western Ontario are calling for the resignation of Agminister Lorne Hender- son. Western farmers are watching MO land blow away in spring dust storms reminiscent of the Dirty Thirties. They have also been warn- ed of impending droughts that could see their crops wither to nothing. The concern is spreading to almost every aspect of agriculture across Canada. To make matters worse in P.E.I. concern is growing that the giant K.C. Irving - owned conglomerate will be given permission to acquire 9,000 acres of land at Kensington- Cavendish to grow more potatoes to feed its processing plant. The fears, of course, are valid since independent farmers feel Irving interests would use the extra land as a leverage against the little man. The Kensington -Cavendish ioperation. to be fair, has been a losing operation for former owners. The Irving people are trying to make it profitable and much money has been spent to improve the product. Improvements mean moI'e than 300 jobs on the Island and that cannot'be frightened away. But the unmistakable signs of a rural uprising are there for every one to see. Farmers are unhappy. Beef farmers have been in deep trouble for more than half a decade. They have steadfastly refused to organize a marketing board preferring to remain staunch free enterprisers. One cannot help but admire their tenacity, but the writing is on the wall. Farm bankruptcies in On- tario alone increased by 91 percent last year and this year doesn't seem to be much better. In other businesses. bankruptcies in- creased by only 18 percent. Foreclosures are also in- creasing and the federation of agriclture estimates foreclosures are 10 times higher than bankruptcies. I have related two or three horror stories here recently about farmers being unable to get enough money to put Cecil R Squire Sales & Service Repair Shop Equipment 47 John St. 1. Exeter 235-0465 in their crops this year. Some younger farmers are paying huge interest debts. Even the usually non-farm oriented Globe and Mail carried a story recently about Brian Ireland from Teeswater, a hard-working, respected farmer, who is paying $1,000 a week in in- terest charges; of Don Morrison of Lucknow who paid $30,000 last year in debt charges; of Glen Smith, a 24 - year -old farmer from Troy who can't sell out because the bank beat him to it by Please turn to page7A one acre in size and take about 15 subsamples from each area. Send these to the Pesticide Residue Lab at the University of Guelph. Ask them for an atrazine residue test. An equally effective method is to grow the crop in - the soil sample yourself. Collect the soil as before. You will need about a gallon of soil from each area. 'Divide each sample into two. To l of each sample add a teaspoon of activated char- coal. This will tie up the atrazine. Now plant the beans or whatever in each sample. After they are well es- tablished let the soil dry'out. This puts extra stress on the crop. If there is atrazine residue you should see some whitening of the leaves. After they turn a bit white, water again and see if you can pull them through. If you Please turn to page 7A rb� FARMERS 111.116444 IN HURON COUNTY "THINKING OF REAL ESTATE, THINK STEVE BUCHANAN" SPECIALIZING IN THE SALE OF FARMS FOR 26 THE SQUARE GODERICH CALL 524-4700 EVENINGS 524-9097 OFFICE moommousimmumpr CONSI STENT YIELD POTENTIAL As Shown By Local Proof of Performance Wayne Ratz RR 3 Dashwood Hybrid G4065 G4036 G4042 G4141 G4195 Pickseed 4944 Pioneer 3901 Pioneer 3906 % Break % Moist Av/Acre Rating 36 20 95 4 26 21.6 85.5 7 14 25.5 88.5 5 14 27.6 121 2 20 25.8 103.7 3 19 25.6 86.4 6 10 28.6 125. 1 10 28 125.8 1 John Elder RR 1 Dashwood Broken Stalks Per 100 ft. % Moist 27 25 9 23.4 19 23 3975A 43 21.2 25 21 43 19.3 58 20 Hybrid Pioneer 3901 Pioneer 3906 G4141 Pioneer Pioneer 3950 G4036 G4042 For Mors Advice Contact Roger Ratz RR 3 Dashwood 237-3307 or 237-3377 Av/Acre Rating 117.16 114.71 117.39 105.39 106.89 4 95.8 7 97.84 Would you like superior grass control along with higher corn yields? Then Lasso® herbicide plus atrazine is the smart choice. A tank mix of Lasso plus atrazine gives excellent control against weeds like crabgrass, fall panicum, barnyard - grass and foxtail.4It also controls smartweed, common ragweed, lambsquarters, mustard, pigweed and many other broadleaves. All with reduced carryover, too. And Lasso gives you a choice of application methods for effective results. You can go with either shallow incorporation or surface application. You can shallow incorporate Lasso into the top five centimetres of soil, or you can surface apply Lasso within 5 days of your last tillage trip to get more dependable performance year in and year out. Best of all, using Lasso plus atrazine helps you net a bigger yield.. which adds up to a bigger, healthier profit. And that is really smart! Monsanto Lasso' The Smart Choice When you choose Lasso plus Atrazine... a bigger yield is just a harvest away. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW THE LABEL DIRECTIONS FOR LASSO Lasso' is a registered trademark of Monsanto Company Monsanto Canada Inc . registered user Monsanto Company 1981. Monsanto Canada Inc Winnipeg. Montreal. Toronlo Regina. Saskatoon. Calgary. Vancouver LN -A-3-81