b'Are we in for a Cold, Early Spring? Its Time to Think About Vigour TestingTHE FARMERS ALMANAC made headlines again recentlyWeve had some samples coming to the lab that have when it predicted a record-breaking cold winter forvarying degrees of mechanical damage, but nothing thats Canada and the United States over the next severala massive concern at the moment.months. The Prairie provinces will be hit the hardest thisI expected the disease pressure to be relatively low in year with heaps of snow in both January and February,2022, and it was. Disease levels have indeed been muted the Almanac is predicting. in cereals like wheat, barley, and oat. So far, weve had Whether the predictions end up being accurate or not,just about one or two per cent of samples that tested posi-it seems that weather records are broken left and righttive for fusarium, and these samples came from southern these days, and as climate change continues to rear itsAlberta, which is normal because of the higher preva-head, its not hard to imagine that extreme temperatureslence of irrigation there.are heading our way. During spring, one thing I usually worry about is But first, the good news. Overall, the seed quality thisdormancy. Thats why weve again encouraged dormancy year has been very good. In many ways, it was an idealtesting right after harvest, as well as further testing in the year for most parts of Canada. We havent had the typicalspring.issues we have with a lot of dormancy at this time of theThat brings me back to the possibility of a record-year in cereals. breaking cold winter. Lots of snow is good news for One thing weve been keeping an eye out for isfields, as it ensures good moisture early in the season. mechanical damage in peas, due to the really dry condi- That said, what if a record-breaking cold winter leads to a tions we had in August, which was the peak time forcold, early spring?pulse harvest. Cold weather early in the year has implications for seed development and growth. If this plays out, it will mean that vigour testing in the early spring will become important. Seed can easily have a 98 per cent germination rate, but vigour is really important because you need to know how your seed will handle such cold, early spring conditions.Its never too early to think about spring and what tests you may need to do to ensure a successful growing season.MOSES PALMER SENIOR SEED ANALYST & LABORATORY MANAGER, 20/20 SEED LABS Moses@2020seedlabs.ca@2020Seedlabs2020seedlabs.ca20GERMINATION.CANOVEMBER 2022'