[Stew]

We have stingray canola well out in flower with a few pods forming and have had 2 frosts and 2 more on the way. -1 for a few hours. Soil is wet and plant is growing fine. Worst should I expect to see in the next few weeks as far as yeild loss or damage

 

[dwh039]

Were the seeds firm or watery when squeezed?

 

[Highmarker]

Pretty much a crap shoot at that stage. If you had -7 deg for several hours I would say your looking at a wreck but if there was enough heat during the day and it wasn't windy when it was -1 deg there might have been enough ground heat to prevent the flowers from freezing if it was only for a few hours. Time will tell.

 

[Don Boles]

if there was enough heat during the day and it wasn't windy when it was -1 deg there might have been enough ground heat to prevent the flowers from freezing

Never thought of it that way around, in our rolling area I usually hope for a good wind overnight to blend the +3 on the hills and the -3 in the draws that can occur in still air.
Definitely a tough call in the example given.

 

[Northern Farmer]

I've never experienced a damaging frost on main crop canola while it was in bloom but later on in the fall if we had a dry summer season and then a bunch of second growth came shooting up with later season rains and after it was swathed and regrew it looked like a second crop of canola was coming ( what a mess ), I am amazed at how well the blooms seem to hang on during frosts in the fall. Like was said though, as far as the blooms go and if they get damaged and that area of the plant doesn't form a pod as a result, you will see the little sprigs as I call them sticking off the stem with no pod on the end of it because the flower aborted. So once the plant has finished booming and you look at your plants you will be able to tell if frost has had an effect on that aspect.

Now with the pods and seeds already formed and frost hits, if its a fair hit of frost its quite easy to tell if there is seed damage then if they have not gotten to the stage beyond being little sacks of water, just a day after the frost one can open up pods and see that the seeds are looking off color and becoming more watery and turning brownish, then mashing some seeds between your fingers and smell it, if it just reeks of a rotten smell, those are seeds that will turn to pepper specks as they will just dry up.

 

[offroadnt]

You are getting +30 days and below freezing at night? Those are quite the temperature swings

 

[Don Boles]

You are getting +30 days and below freezing at night? Those are quite the temperature swings

Yes, a good sign the 30 comes with about 5% humidity!

 

[offroadnt]

True, I thought that was more down here but I guess it can get that dry up there also. I suppose he's having longer nights then us by now too.

OOOOPS Just noticed, he isn't anywhere near where I thought he was (I'm not even on the right continent...).

Taking a nap now

 

[Stew]

Ha. South australia. Days are 15 oC and slowly cooling to -1 to -2 rite on sun up then slowly warming. The small pods are only just starting to show signs of a seed developing. It's to hard to open a pod without damaging what's in side. Soil is damp and days a clear and warm.

 

[Terawhiti]

G'day Stew, you should be ok. Canola at this stage if there's available moisture will continue to flower and compensate for any damage done. In my experience bad frost damage in canola occurs late when pods are fully formed. Just let it keep raining and all will be good!

 

[dwh039]

Since it's out of flower and in the pod forming stage. The watery seeds will more than likely shrivel up and not produce any weight. Whereas the firm seeds will more than likely have the green locked in, with minimal yield loss to them.