Thomas G. Chastain Why is lodging important in grass seed crops? Under certain conditions, the tiller cannot support the weight of the developing inflorescence and seed. The tiller lodges or falls to the ground, especially when there are high levels of nitrogen fertilizer and soil moisture present (Fig. 1). Both conditions are common in Oregon’s [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Climate/Weather’
PGRs and lodging control in grass seed crops
Thursday, April 25th, 2013Honor for Temperature and CO2 effects on seed quality article
Saturday, February 9th, 2013An international team of scientists led by Dr. John Hampton of New Zealand is developing a series of articles on the effects of elevated temperature and CO2 on seed quality and seed production. I’m a member of this team and the first installment of our series was published last year in the Journal of Agricultural [...]
Fall irrigation improves crop stands and regrowth but not seed yield in perennial ryegrass and tall fescue seed crops
Thursday, October 4th, 2012Thomas G. Chastain The Willamette Valley has experienced very dry late summer and early fall conditions to date and long-range projections are for more of the same coming in the middle and late parts of fall. How dry has it been? Rainfall for the July through September period has been 0.87 inches at Hyslop Farm [...]
Low spring temperatures, high precipitation, and seed crops
Friday, July 6th, 2012Thomas G. Chastain Willamette Valley seed producers have endured yet another cold and wet spring. Seed growers are now looking forward to the pleasant dry and warm summer weather that area is well known for to aid in harvest and other field operations. This spring’s weather was both colder and wetter than the long-term averages [...]
Spring weather and grass seed crop development
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012Thomas G. Chastain One question that is on the minds of seed producers is how much has the cold weather set crops back? Over the 123 years of weather records at Corvallis, there has been only 15 times that the month of March has been colder than we experienced in March 2012. Cold spring weather [...]
Another cold, wet spring?
Thursday, June 16th, 2011Thomas G. Chastain One of the most often heard comments (or complaints) so far this spring has been about how cold and wet it has been. Has this spring’s weather been as cold and wet as it seems? The answer is yes! Compared to the long term averages for Corvallis, April temperatures would have been [...]