Latest report

29 June 2009

Brian Ross - Frontier, Suffolk
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As I write we've just endured 39mm of rain in under an hour.

Fortunately, there was no wind, so the fear of flattened corn hasn't materialised as yet.

Winter barleys are turning rapidly. On light land crops have burnt out in patches, but on the heavier soils they're ripening naturally. I've no idea how yields will go, as the ears are quite full, but tiller numbers are lower than last year.

Spring barley is very thin after the prolonged period without rain just as it was tillering, although it looks better than it should in many fields in this area. Late N uptake may cause problems with malting quality.

The interesting crop this year that I have on several acres is red wheat, which offers a large end price, provided the specs are met.

Initially, like spring barleys, it emerged very well and hope sprang. Then the drought set in and they have struggled, as N input levels were set quite low to achieve the high protein required.

The crop's inability to have picked up N during the main growing period has been the problem; and with small ears and low tillering, yields are liable to lower than expected – but combining will tell.

Wheats have also suffered with fewer tillers. But with relatively low disease levels all the leaves can receive sunlight and so are contributing to yield. This, I hope, may mean longer ear-fill and maybe a better quality if the weather plays ball.

In sugar beet it's time to remove weed beets where they're now very evident.

The weather hasn't helped with weed control, particularly of late bindweed and tough knotgrass, and some headlands are not pretty.

Oilseed rape desiccation is round the corner and some decisions will be easy. But, unfortunately, others will cause quite a few headaches given the uneven, weedy crops we have to contend with. Who'd be an agronomist?

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22 June 2009

Marion Self - Prime Agriculture, Norfolk
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As this season's agronomy tails off it's already time to start preparing for next season.

Dry conditions during April and May have highlighted areas of poor soil structure which will need careful attention this autumn, so cultivation strategies should be considered now.

Thankfully, recent wet weather has delayed the onset of take-all symptoms, but as soils dry this disease is likely to highlight compacted areas.

Many of you will have visited at least one varieties demonstration and the choices and plethora of information are often quite bewildering.

Key factors to consider when choosing wheat varieties are target market (be realistic about the cost and likelihood of achieving quality premiums), sowing date (think about speed of development; a late-drilled variety should also be a prolific tillerer), rotational positioning (suitability as a first or subsequent cereal) and standing power.

Consider also what the variety can offer in terms of yield potential - good specific weight is the cornerstone of yield. To ease management a proportion of the acreage should be sown with a variety resistant to orange blossom midge.

For all crops disease resistance is an important consideration. But most weaknesses can be managed, and for many growers it's margin over fungicide costs that counts.

Rapeseed selection is even more bamboozling. Hybrid vigour can help establishment, but check that this phenomenon is exhibited in the autumn as well as the spring. Don't expect a miracle; if seed-beds and growing conditions are poor neither a conventional variety nor hybrid will perform well.

Crop height and maturity are also important. Growers with large areas would be wise to stagger harvest date by choosing early and later-maturing varieties.

I'd encourage you to try something new, but some varieties just do well on some farms and if you've got it right don't meddle too much.

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15 June 2009

Will Foss - UAP, Suffolk
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Most combinable crop spraying is almost complete, although some wheats are still receiving T3 treatments to top up foliar disease control.

Some oilseed rape crops this year will cause desiccation problems due to their uneven development and maturity. There will probably have to be some fiddly part-field spraying with glyphosate at different times to accommodate this variation.

An alternative is to apply a pod sealant and then follow up with glyphosate once the more backward areas of the field have reached the appropriate stage for treatment.

The sealant will help protect the more mature areas of the crop from damage when the sprayer travels through it. But this technique will require careful selection of water volumes and nozzles to avoid the pod sealant preventing full uptake of the later-applied glyphosate.

Quality wheats have been sprayed at ears emerged or just into early flowering to try to control fusarium species and associated mycotoxins.

As milling wheats reach milky ripe stage they will receive a top-up of foliar urea or a stabilised nitrogen product to boost protein levels. The need for this late addition of nitrogen was a topic of discussion at Cereals with the crop nutrition research scientists.

Their work with NIR looks promising, but not yet ready to be applied practically. Nevertheless, given the uncertainty over nitrogen uptake and loss this year (especially where urea has been used) it would seem too risky to drop the late nitrogen treatment on promising milling crops.

Now is the time to assess the effectiveness of treatments, especially of grassweed herbicides, during the season.

Generally where robust pre-emergence residuals were applied they worked well allowing surviving grassweeds to be tidied up with Atlantis or Pacifica (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron)in the spring.

Where these products have been used as the only grassweed treatment, due to lack of opportunities to spray in sequence with autumn residuals, poorer control has sometimes resulted.

The question is whether poor control is down to unsatisfactory application technique and conditions or to herbicide resistance.

Any surviving areas or patches of blackgrass will, therefore, be tested for resistance using the rapid Petri-dish test developed by Rothamsted. This can produce a result in as little as six weeks allowing grassweed control decisions to be made before establishing the following crop.

Areas or fields where blackgrass control has been poor will need to be focused on to maximise cultural control perhaps even resorting to the plough to bury seed or use the stale seed-bed plus glyphosate approach.

Where Atlantis target-site resistance is identified it will be necessary to consider alternative herbicide strategies using pre-em and early post-em residuals.

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8 June 2009

Ruth East - AICC, Lincolnshire
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With winter wheats rapidly going through their growth stages, most T2 fungicide applications went on as the ear was emerging.

Early-drilled crops are flowering and so no longer at risk from wheat orange blossom midge. Levels of the pests in pheromone traps and yellow sticky traps are well below spray thresholds. Traps will be removed from flowering crops and placed in later crops and spring wheat, which may still be at risk.

Aphids are beginning to appear in wheat crops, and if levels build up an aphicide will be included with the T3 spray.

What is showing up this year is the aggressiveness of yellow rust in the varieties Oakley, Cordiale and Solstice. Crops are completely defoliated in any spray-missed areas. The disease has also shown that T1 fungicide product choice and robustness of dose was important.

Most oilseed rape is completely out of flower, except for late crops and areas that suffered rabbit or pigeon damage. So far there's very little evidence of sclerotinia showing. Stem cracking may be found but this is a physiological symptom caused by rapid growth.

Spring barley has raced through its growth stages and once awns are showing it will receive its T2 fungicide, even though there is little disease present.

Spring rape is actually beginning to look like a crop, and has received its first pollen beetle spay. The results will be monitored to see if there is any resistance to pyrethroids.

Sugar beet is growing well and, hopefully, weed control has been completed for the season. All beet will receive a manganese + boron mix within the next week.