Perfect pulses are in reach
March 6, 2025
Pulse crops have come a long way in Western Canada. Once considered a niche crop with limited agronomic understanding, pulses have steadily grown in popularity and acreage.
Today, they are valued rotation partners in many crop plans across the west, offering benefits to soil health and productivity that extend beyond the current season.
But growing a successful pulse crop isn’t a matter of chance – it’s the result of careful planning and execution that starts in the previous season and continues throughout the year.
The evolution of pulse crops in Western Canada is a testament to agricultural innovation and adaptation. The number of weed control options has seen significant growth as has the agronomic understanding that the pulse crop story begins long before seeding.
A foundation built on weed management
A quality pulse crop starts the season prior with conscious soil and weed management decisions.
Your pulse plan should include pre- and post-harvest weed control in the previous season. This can look like a pre-harvest weed control such as glyphosate as well as a post-harvest herbicide with residual activity to help control perennial and other tough to manage weeds.
Pre-season set up
We know we can’t control the weather, but we can give our pulse crops the best start.
Having a uniform seed bed and strong protection against seed and soil borne disease, giving your crop a head start against early season weed pressure.
Before seeding, a pre-seed herbicide with multiple modes of action for weed control and some residual properties will help your in-season weed control finish the job, according to Technical Lead Herbicides Leighton Blashko.
He adds, that as the spring weather comes around, you can consider testing seed quality to understand the germination rate and seed borne disease presence. These can help inform your crop plan including a seed treatment to protect your crop against common seed- and soil-borne diseases.
Vibrance® Maxx seed treatment offers broad spectrum control against the most significant early season seed- and soil-borne diseases, including control of Rhizoctonia solani in field peas and lentils, giving your pulse crop the best possible start.
Apron® Advance seed treatment for chickpeas and lentils assists with healthier crop establishment, with three powerful fungicides and multiple modes of action to deliver enhanced control of Ascochyta along with an enhanced broad disease package.
In-season care
Moving into the season means you start to see the rewards of your dedicated work. Now you just need to take care of the more troublesome annual weeds like wild mustard and wild oats.
Continuing your weed control is important to protect your yield outcomes.
In peas, one pass to guard against grasses and broadleaf weeds should be applied at the 3-6 node stage.
Nelatic® herbicide combines imazamox and bentazon to provide excellent systemic and contact control of grasses and broadleaf weeds found in Western Canada field peas. It has the built-in resistance management support with two modes of action (group 2 and 6 chemistries) and a pre-mix formulation that is easy to use on-farm.
But when it comes to your lentils, you’ll look to two weed control passes. The first with a Metribuzin active ingredient and the second to get group 2 resistant mustard and stinkweed. Then again at the 7-9 node stage to do a final clean up and control volunteer canola.
Canvista® herbicide, with the active ingredient imazamox, provides proven protection from weeds in your IMI tolerant lentils in a convenient ready-to-apply formula. It is trusted to control common broadleaf weeds and grasses found in Western Canada with rotational flexibility for future crops.
As the growing season moves along, you’ll scout for leaf diseases. Look to fungicides such as Miravis® Neo with three modes of action against key diseases like Ascochytaand Mycosphaerella blight in peas and chickpeas, or Elatus® with the power of Solatenol® as the first fungicide pass in your lentils for long-lasting, early-season protection against anthracnose.
Crossing the finish line
Come harvest time, make sure to protect that yield and quality you worked so hard for all year with Reglone® Ion desiccant to control harvest timing while protecting yield and grade.
A whole-crop approach
Like any project well-executed, the key to growing the best pulse crops lies in adopting a whole-crop approach.
For Leighton, ensuring that each step is followed is the recipe to a successful pulse crop in Western Canada, and there are no shortcuts. This year-long journey isn’t just about just the immediate yield, but also the longterm impacts on soil health, nitrogen fixation, diversity in cropping that supports subsequent crops, and overall farm sustainability in using a variety of weed management tools.
Always read and follow label directions. Elatus® is a co-pack of Elatus® A and Elatus® B fungicides. Miravis® Neo refers to Miravis® Neo 300 SE fungicide. Vibrance® Maxx is an on-seed application of: (i) Vibrance 500FS Seed Treatment fungicide and (ii) Apron Maxx® RTA® seed treatment fungicide. Apron®, Apron Maxx®, Canvista®, Elatus®, Miravis®, Nelatic®, Reglone®, RTA®, Solatenol®, Seedcare™, Vibrance® and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2025 Syngenta
