Source: producer.com
Larry Marshall, a hemp grower from Shellbrook, Sask., told the recent Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre field day in Outlook, Sask., that producers need to minimize the amount of fibre going through their combines. | Karen Briere photo
OUTLOOK, Sask. — An experienced hemp grower says first-time growers should consider semi-dwarf varieties.
Larry Marshall, who farms at Shellbrook, Sask., told attendees of a recent field day at the Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre, where variety trials of hemp are being grown, that shorter crops are easier to manage.
He said he noticed that the varieties under trial at Outlook are likely going to get quite a bit taller by harvest time, which can lead to problems.
Hemp fibre can cause wrapping in combines, but Marshall said there are ways to prevent that, including the shorter varieties.
Although he is an organic grower, he recommended conventional growers try Finola, which was developed in Finland.
“As long as you are conventional and have the ability to put the fertilizer to it,” he added.
“If you’re organic, if you were to grow Finola here without being able to put the extra nutrient on it, you would have weed problems because it would be a lot shorter and the weeds would come through.”
A strong fertilizer program and close plant spacing offers good weed competition and yield without the need for too much chemical control, Marshall said.
The key is seeding at about 30 pounds per acre for a thick canopy and one bud per plant.
“When you have space like this,” he said, pointing to the variety trials, “it will still yield just as much but it will start branching out and then you’ll get a bud on these lower branches. When you harvest it, you have to go down low and take the whole plant, so you’re putting a lot more fibre though your combine.”
Marshall said seed yield from the dwarf varieties when compared to nitrogen applications shows a straight-line increase right up to 200 pounds of nitrogen.
“The prices are lower for conventional seed, so you’ve got to maximize it in the seed yield,” he said.
Yields at Lethbridge under irrigation are nearly 3,000 lb. of seed, he said. His 10-year average in an organic system is about 700 pounds, but the price is higher.
Harvest ease is another reason to recommend Finola. Marshall said a mature male plant can break in one’s hands, so it doesn’t wrap in the combine.
Finola is a dioecious variety used for seed production, meaning half the plants are female and half are male. The male plants die after they produce pollen, while the females produce the seed.
Monoecious varieties, used for fibre production, have both male and female parts on the same plant and don’t generally wrap, he said.
Semi-dwarf varieties are also the fastest maturing. As well, the later the crop is planted, the quicker it matures.
“Where I am, I use July 1 as the last seeding date,” he said.
Last year he had to reseed on July 15 after hail and still got a decent crop.
He has also reseeded because of wild oat pressure in a wet area, seeding the area a month after the original crop and still harvesting the entire crop on the same day.
Marshall suggested straight cutting the hemp when it is still green.
“As soon as you see some seeds poking out of their skin, and they’re going to want to start falling off, that’s when you want to combine it,” he said.
If the crop is swathed it should be left for only a day or two, just enough for the leaf to dry out.
“You want to set your combine for your concave setting and your rotor setting like you would for peas, and you want your sieve settings and your air like you would for wheat,” Marshall said.
The seed should be dried as soon as possible because it can heat fast.
Ideally, harvesting at 17 to 18 percent moisture works well, and hemp is considered dry at nine percent.
Marshall said producers who use a flat-bottom aeration bin shouldn’t put more than six feet of seed in the bin at a time because a lot of moisture needs to be pushed out.
If using a hopper bin, there is a spot near the top along the edge where the seed will stick to the side and must be removed.
“Put it into the hopper bin for one to two days, then take the whole bin out and recirculate it,” he said.
He also said there are twice the nutrients in hemp stubble than in wheat, barley or oats, and growers should not burn it. Leaving the stubble until spring and then planting a pea or other legume crop in it is best.
“Broadcast it on the stubble and use a tandem disk or a Pro-Till to bury it,” he said.
He does not recommend a straw chopper. His farm uses a forage harvester to follow the combine and chop the straw. It is later buried during fall tillage.
As of earlier in July, it is now legal for hemp growers to harvest hemp leaves to extract cannabinoids (CBDs). Marshall said there is a strong alternative market for CBDs, and he believes demand will outstrip that for seed.
Seed prices are lower this year, but markets are still decent, he said, but American farmers can now grow hemp, and that is Canada’s top market.
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