Spring Seed ReportSpring Seed Report
Paulson Premium Seed is pleased to present their Spring Seed Selection.
We have a wide range of quality seed available to choose from. Our main focus is on the forage grains and the field peas. We have several new forage barley varieties for this year. We have a two-row beardless variety and two smooth-awned barley’s that have shown excellent yields. We will also have a good selection of oats. The new variety is Baler. It has a wide leaf and will ton out extremely well.
We are are introducing several new varieties of peas from Canada. These are all upright varieties which makes them much easier to harvest. As many of you know, we have had excellent success with our new market to Cuba. We shipped approximately five million pounds of peas to Cuba, Mexico and other markets for human consumption in 2003. We also use a substantial quantity of peas in our livestock feed. We expect the market for peas and lentils to continue growing in 2004 and the future.
Les Paulson and Larry White encourage producers to grow peas as an excellent rotation crop. The latest studies now discourage the use of fertilizer with peas. Recent research has found that fertilizer is not as important when planting peas. An additional benefit to planting peas is the improvement to the rotation crop that follows on that field.
It is important to plant peas as early as possible. Peas germinate at temperatures as low as 40 degrees F. Planting rates for peas is based on seed count and will vary from 120 to 180 pounds per acre. Pea yields average approximately the same as your wheat does on the same field.