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Tag Archives Plant growth regulators

This photo is of a wheat plant at growth stage 31, which is generally the best time to apply a plant growth regulator to a cereal crop.
Cereals, Crops, Features

Application timing of PGRs

When to use PGRs and application guidelines

By
It’s said timing is everything and that is especially true when it comes to the use of plant growth regulators. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are hormone-based compounds used primarily as a harvest management aid to modify plant growth and development. They help produce plants with shorter, thicker and stronger stems and reduce the risk of […] Read more
Farmers put promises to the test
Crops, News

Farmers put promises to the test

New products potentially improve standability and yields

By
Central-Alberta farmer Scott Keller is anxious to see what his malt barley will do this year as he applies increased fertility along with a plant growth regulator (PGR). Keller, who has pretty good success in growing barley that achieves malt quality on his farm near New Norway in Camrose County, generally holds back on applying […] Read more
Rural landscape with wheat field on sunset
Cereals, Crops, Features

Slowing growth to prevent lodging

Should you invest in a plant growth regulator for your cereal crops this season?

By
Where there’s enough moisture and high fertility levels, lodging can still be a major yield constraint. In cereal crops, plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been shown to produce shorter stems to reduce lodging and maintain grain yields. Researchers in Alberta are trying to optimize PGR use to prevent lodging and improve standability and harvestability in […] Read more
These changes in height and lodging rates were found on irrigated land at Lethbridge in 2015.
Cereals, Crops, Features

Researchers put PGRs to the test

Alberta researchers find that PGRs impact different wheat varieties in different ways

By
The perception that all hard red wheat varieties respond equally to plant growth regulators doesn’t hold up in the field, according to an Alberta Agriculture and Forestry researcher. “We’ve looked at several different hard reds that have a height reduction, but they don’t have the improvement in standability that we need,” Dr. Sheri Strydhorst told […] Read more
Building a 137 bushel CPS crop
Cereals, Crops

Building a 137 bushel CPS crop

It’s the whole agronomic program that will allow farmers to push yields to new limits

By
Achieving a 137 bushel per acre yield on CPS wheat in a relatively dry year is certainly noteworthy, but Fred Wood, an Alberta consulting agronomist says the real story is about the benefits of having a complete agronomy program. Varieties are important to some extent, says Wood who owns Meridian Ag Consulting, but the real […] Read more
farmer standing in front of grain bin
Cereals, Features

Western farmers watching PGR

Several plant growth regulators are now on offer. Farmer Panel members we interviewed aren’t jumping in with both feet, but they are watching research results

By
Not all western Canadian farmers are lining up to be among the first testing the effectiveness of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on their farms this year. Producers contacted for the February Farmer Panel says they are interested in the potential of the treatment that can help reduce lodging in cereals and perhaps increase yields, but […] Read more
test plots of seeded wheat
Cereals, Crops, Features

Plant growth regulators

They’re not new, but plant growth regulators 
are not yet common on the Canadian Prairies

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Prairie farmers might be seeing ads for plant growth regulators for the first time, but PGR’s are not new. “They’ve been using them in Europe for over 30 years,” Tom Tregunno, Engage Agro’s product manager, told farmers at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF) Crop Management field day in July. Plant growth regulators are […] Read more
Canola field next to wild grasses
Columns, Crops

Putting the farm “on trial”

Farmers are always experimenting. Here are Sarah Weigum’s 
thoughts about different ways of doing research

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Last summer I travelled to Indian Head, Sask. where I had the pleasure of visiting the Bell Farm historical site. The Bell Farm is probably Canada’s first mega-farm, topping out at 53,000 acres in the late 1800s. In 1887, a portion of this farm was sold to create the Dominion Experimental Farm, now known as […] Read more
An open field.
Cereals, Crops, Features

Intensify production by regulating growth

Plant growth regulators can give you higher yields, with lower crop height

By
Plant growth regulators (PGR) are not a new technology. They are commonly used in other areas of the world with high intensity cereal management systems, where high levels of nitrogen fertilizer are being used and lodging is a threat to yield and quality. Data from the U.K. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs […] Read more

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