growing canola

Can anybody tell me about growing canola! I live in western pennsylvania and according to pennstate university it can be grown were im at but i have never heard of anybody growing it in my area! My growing season ranges from first of may to first of october we do see some 85 to 90 degree days in august some years never gets above 80! I would like to know if it is a good rotation crop with corn? Can it be profitable? Does it like dry or wet ground? Which soil type is better? Anybody live around pennsylvania that grows it maybe i could make a weekend trip and see how you harvest it and handle it! Thanks for any info! Brian

My 2 cents... Where are you going to sell it? No market for it in this area that I am aware of.

I"m in North Dakota, and it"s a BIG crop here.

It likes cool summers to bush out, bloom, and fill the seed pods, which is why this area is ideal, and I have no idea you it would do in your region.

Have you contacted your local State University Ag Extension agent to see if they have any info available for your area?

http://extension.psu.edu/counties

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Canola information

SOMEBODY has to be first to try new things!

Folks have started growing it here and there is a mill about 30 miles away in GA. I assume it is made into oil.
It is a winter crop here like wheat.
Richard in NW SC

I agree with the others that the first step is to find out where you can sell it. Not much point in growing it if there's no market within a reasonable distance.

Friend in eastern Washington grew it for a few years, in rotation with wheat. Has to be swathed to dry before combining- because when dried naturally, the pods all shatter when the combine hits the plant, and you get nothin'.

"Has to be swathed to dry before combining- because when dried naturally, the pods all shatter when the combine hits the plant, and you get nothin"."

That"s NOT necessarily true... there"s newer varieties that cure more evenly, and some is sprayed with a desiccant to kill/dry it, then combined "straight".

Also, there"s a product on the market that is a sort of "glue" that when sprayed on the ripening canola "sticks" the pods so they won"t shatter.

Little bitty tiny seed, shatters to beat the dickens when it hails on it.

Gene

I live SE of Spokane and some farms have planted Canola or Rapeseed, usually after they have taken a field out of bluegrass seed production.

The Canola is kind of pretty when it blooms, with showy yellow flowers, but it has an odd, fairly unpleasant odor. I have noticed that after a field has had Canola in it, there usually are some stray plants around the edges that self-reseed. I wonder if escaped Canola will be the next big weed problem around here. Canola in bloom looks a lot like Jim Hill Mustard, which IS a bad weed problem in lots of areas.

I believe that the farmers first swath the Canola and then combine the windrows after the crop is dry. The seeds are really tiny, so I suppose the combines have to be adjusted even down from the settings for bluegrass seed. But some farmers keep doing some Canola or rapeseed, so there must be some profit in planting it. I have read that they do not have to ship the seed too far for processing, but I don"t remember where the plant is.

This area used to be one of the very best bluegrass seed producing spots in the world. But some years ago the eco folks made it so the farmers could no longer burn the stubble and straw in the fields, as they had done for 50 years. I have been told that without the plants being "shocked" by running a fire over them, the bluegrass produces about half the seed it would. So losing that advantage, the farmers have been experimenting with other crops like Canola, or plowing up their old bluegrass fields and planting wheat.

To the original poster, I suggest that he research the market for Canola in your area. It might work just fine there, but if you have to ship it long distance to get it processed, it might not make a practical and profitable crop. Good luck!

There is a crushing plant somewhere in Quebec. There is some canola grown in northern Maine that gets shipped there. The stuff is a weed, so getting it to grow is not hard, its just having the right conditions to get good yields. Also get ready for sticker shock when you ask the price on a bag of seed...