There are a lot of patchy crops which I know is not just immediate to  this area as many of my colleagues nationwide are reporting. More appear daily in both wheat and barley. Samples are showing some BYDV and BYMV but other patches are not proving to be easy to explain, more investigation is needed

Though the weather has been great for holidaymakers, not quite so good for crops with the diurnal range of temperature being up to 22 degrees and no rain. The decision to apply a bit more nitrogen than usual  earlier than usual  seems to have paid off and now a lot more is going on in the hope that there will be some rain this week.

Some wheats are now at GS 31 though the majority have not moved beyond GS 30 , all TO sprays have been applied and appear to be working well, particularly where yellow rust was flaring up. It was very noticeable that the treatment had dried up the pustules within 7-8 days which certainly was a relief as there were a lot of other varieties other than Oakley suffering to a greater or lesser extent

Septoria though present on older and dead leaves is not a threat at the moment particularly with the robust T0 sprays and  the very dry weather.

Oil seed rape is just coming into flower in a few fields with the main crops fully budded up and will be flowering by the time this published. Pollen beetle have been active with numbers varying greatly, some have been sprayed others not at threshold.

The sclerotinia monitoring service has shown  a possibility of an earlier attack than for the few years with sclerotia germinating, though until night time temperatures rise to at least 7 degrees ascospore release is unlikely

Early drilled beet are coming though well and the first post em sprays are due taking care with the frosts that we are experiencing.