Most spring barley drilling is complete and seed drilled 10 days ago is shot and should come through during next week.
All winter wheats and barleys have been treated with 37kg/ha of nitrogen plus 45kg/ha of SO3, and second wheats have had the same sulphur and 75-80kg/ha of N. Late September and early October drilled wheats are at GS24.
Oilseed rape crops will soon be at the stem extension stage and have already been treated with 40kg/ha of nitrogen and 75kg/ha of SO3. During the next few days the bulk of the planned remaining N should be applied to backward crops as there is only about 25kg/ha in the soil - only half the amount found last year. Remember the crop can take up to 3kg/ha of N a day during stem extension.
Well established rape crops can wait for their main dressing until the end of March.
Malting winter barleys should get all their N by the end of March to ensure malting quality.
There is little evidence of light leaf spot present in oilseed rape but phoma symptoms can easily found on the old leaves.
Most varieties of wheat have septoria lesions on the old senescing leaves, and fresh net blotch lesions are evident on winter barley varieties Cassata and Pearl.
The dreaded slugs are still doing damage in late-drilled fields of wheat, albeit in small patches but will need treating. Remember the guidelines for using slug pellets and take all possible precautions to avoid these getting into waterways.
With soil temperatures increasing and above 6C it's time to consider application of Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) for blackgrass control in wheat. But take care to avoid spraying during frosty weather to avoid crop damage and avoid tank-mixing chlorothalonil.
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