Sunflower

Soybean stem rot and STRATEGIES TO MANAGE IT October 2020 Lisa Ann Rothmann, University of the Free State. Send an email to CoetzeeLA@ufs.ac.za   Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a yield-limiting fungal plant pathogen, present on every crop-producing continent with over 500 known susceptible host plants, including weeds. In south africa, hosts include (but are not limited

Soil tests come in handy for next crop’s fertilising plan August 2020 Written by a retired farmer Sunflower and soybean lands have been harvested in parts of the eastern Free State production area. Sunflowers and soybeans on large lands yielded 2 t/ha And 2,1 t/ha respectively. The maize planted later than normal is showing a

ABC of NO-TILLAGE practices July 2020 Gavin Mathews, Bachelors in Environmental Management. Send an email to gavmat@gmail.com   No-till is a system of conservation tillage which aims to conserve soil and moisture. This practice has become a common method used by farmers, especially in the higher rainfall areas of South Africa. Many of the advantages

CULTIVAR RE-EVALUATION for the 2020/2021 season July 2020 Written by a retired farmer The dryland production areas in South Africa for soybeans and sunflowers largely overlap with a tendency of more sunflowers being planted in the western regions as the season progresses. Hopefully by now you have harvested both your sunflowers and soybeans and can

Reassessing your fertilisation programme after a bumper crop June 2020 Written by a retired farmer The 2019 to 2020 cash-cropping season is distinctive in many production areas, for drought conditions that delayed planting of crops in the ideal planting window. Other areas had more normal early season rains and so farmers could plant all their

Hit the refresh button of your crop system May 2020 Mahlane Godfrey Kgatle,  Post-doctoral Research Fellow,  University of Pretoria. Send an email to godfrey.kgatle@fabi.up.ac.za   Plant diseases have the ability to destroy an entire yield of various crops in the field. Abundance of infectious plant pathogens (germs) is one of the factors that leads to

Harvesting and handling of SUNFLOWERS April 2020 Written by a retired farmer The 2019 sunflower production season produced 680 000 tons of delivered seed from 515 350 hectares which gives us a national average of 1,32 t/ha. The current futures price is at about R5 800/ton. This implies a gross per hectare value of R7

The art of MARKETING your maize April 2020 It is fair to say that many maize farmers have had a near perfect 2019/2020 summer season, and many are still faced with the challenge of marketing their crop for the best possible prices. In truth, many farmers would already have done a good deal of the required

Can you afford not to practise CROP ROTATION? January 2020 Jenny Mathews, Pula Imvula contributor. Send an email to jenjonmat@gmail.com   Growing the same crop year after year is called mono-cropping. Crop rotation is a planned, systematic approach where different crops are grown in a sequence which changes year to year and season to season.

SUNFLOWERS – a golden opportunity January 2020 Jenny Mathews, Pula Imvula contributor. Send an email to jenjonmat@gmail.com   The beautiful golden sunflowers which paint parts of the south african countryside with brilliant golden yellow during the summer months, present a golden opportunity for farmers who include them in their production plans. This broad-leafed plant is