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Lodging
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Lodged lentils.
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Crop with dense canopy not lodged.
Lentils can lodge when grown excessively tall. Lentils which lodge prior to flowering have an increased foliar disease risk. Juvenile lodging can also cause shading of flowers leading to flower abortion and reduced seed set. Lodging can also occur near maturity. Lodged lentils are slower and more difficult to harvest, and lead to greater grain losses. Harvest direction may have to be adjusted to pick up the crop. Lodged lentils may lead to less pod shattering or pod drop than erect lentils from strong wind at maturity.
Use a more erect or shorter variety. Manage crop canopy to reduce overall crop height and bulk by delaying sowing. Avoid excessively high or low plant populations and highly fertile paddocks.
Sow into standing cereal stubble, preferably inter row, to trellis the lentils. Avoid sowing lentils in wide rows (e.g. >30 cm) unless there is standing stubble trellis present.
W Hawthorne, Pulse Australia