Should you seed canola early or later?

Canola seeding recommendations have changed over the years. Conventional wisdom was that you wanted to seed a little later in the spring so that emerging canola would be more likely to escape frost damage. In the 90s, conventional wisdom was challenged. It was found that canola could harden off and withstand a significant frost. In fact, there was work on seeding canola late in the fall so that it emerged very early. That worked well sometimes, but eventually the recommendation was developed to seed canola in the early spring. Trials conducted in a number of locations in the late 90s showed that in seven out of 10 cases, seeding as early as possible gave higher yields than the “normal” seeding date. Oil content was also higher. Over the past ten years, most observers have gone back to recommending a later seeding date. One of the reasons cited is that canola seedlings that don’t have cool temperatures prior to a frost may not sufficiently harden off for when a frost does occur. Of course, later seeding doesn’t provide a guarantee of no frost, but it does improve your odds. These days, you can find producers who seed their canola first, but for many others, canola goes in the ground a bit later. I’m Kevin Hursh.