Ultra-early seeding

It’s been warm out there! Though it’s still a ways to go before ordinary seeding time, a warm winter can spike discussions about a hot topic in recent years - ultra-early seeding. The idea started from south of the border, where in a good year, Montana growers might start seeding in March. Theoretically, ultra-early seeding provides many benefits. It helps the plant to catch early-season moisture and avoid warmer, drier days during grain fill. On top of that, it helps the growers spread the workload during seeding season. However, you might wonder, how early is too early? What if a cold wave hit after seeding? And ultimately, does ultra-early seeding compromise grain yield and quality?

Dr. Brian Beres, research scientist with AAFC Lethbridge has been doing experiments on ultra-early seeding for the past few years. His research showed that seeding when soil temperatures are between 2°C to 6°C produced the optimum yield, despite air temperature dropping to as low as -10°C after seeding. 

For more details on ultra-early seeding, and how to incorporate ultra-early seeding with other agronomic factors, see this RealAgriculture Wheat video, or this article

We want to hear from you! Have you tried ultra-early seeding? How early did you seed? How did it turn out? Take our survey to share your ideas.