What is “Heat Blast”?
Heat Blast is a combination of hot days (28ºC and up) and warm nights (16ºC and up). Canola generally relies on cooler nights to recover from the heat during the day, when the temperatures stay high at night this gives the canola no recovery period and puts a major stress on our canola. If this Heat Blast occurs during flowering, it can have devastating results on final yield.
What does “Heat Blast” do to canola?
Heat Blast causes flower abortion and pod loss. It can take up to one week for canola to restore hormone balance and return to regular pod development after a Heat Blast event.
What hormonal imbalance is caused by “Heat Blast”?
Heat Blast causes the growth hormone Cytokinin to breakdown within the plant. Cytokinin is the responsible for cell division and helps to prevent senescence (aging) of your crop. Reduction in Cytokinin is also directly related to flower abortion and pod loss. As temperatures heat up, Cytokinin starts to breakdown and flower abortion and pod loss starts to occur.
Stoller’s “Heat Blast” Solution
Stoller’s X-Cyte™ is a liquid form of Cytokinin. X-Cyte™ can be used as a replacement for the lost Cytokinin during times of heat blast.
Ideal timing for Stoller’s X-Cyte is between 15%-50% flowering along with your typical fungicide timing. No need to make an extra pass with Stoller’s X-Cyte as it is compatible with most industry fungicides. Click here for more information.
Worried about your crops nutrition levels? Add Stoller’s Harvest More Urea Mate soluble fertilizer complete with 11 key nutrients including 5-10-27 and eight key nutrients for optimal growth the season. Harvest More Urea Mate’s low pH formulation makes it ideal for tank mixing with fungicides, which in recent studies, has proven to increase the in-season performance of many fungicides. Click here for more information.
