Up to an inch of rain over the weekend was desperately needed. Most wheats look quite promising though there's some mildew creeping into the bottom.
The most forward crops are at T1 and it will be important to get the PGR right. They've already had 1 litre/ha of chlormequat and 0.1 litres/ha of Moddus (trinexapac-ethyl) and they'll get the same again along with fungicide - generally chlorothalonil with a good three-quarter dose of triazole, plus Flexity (metrafenone) if there's mildew present.
Most grassweed control has been completed and Atlantis and Pacifica (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) seem to have worked well. We don't have too many resistance problems.
Winter barleys look better this year than normal. They're not that awful yellow you often see - they seem more like wheat. Most are approaching GS32 and a lot of people have already applied fungicide. But it will be important to keep an eye open for rhynchosporium and net blotch after the wet weekend.
I reckon about 15% of the winter rape has been pulled up. Most people have replaced it with spring barley, sown about three weeks ago, which is now at the two-leaf stage and looks fantastic. It shows there was still moisture underneath.
Others have gone with linseed, sown about a week ago, which is just coming through. They'll need to watch out for flea beetle and be prepared to spray a pyrethroid where attacks are severe.
Nitrogen dressings to second wheats are mostly completed, but some people with forward strong first crops are waiting until they've applied their second PGR.
Some oilseed rape looks fantastic, but most suffered pigeon damage. Some Biscaya (thiacloprid) has been applied against pollen beetle. It's more expensive, but we do have resistance down here.
The most forward crops have already been treated against sclerotinia, and will probably need spraying again in a couple of weeks, especially if they are in high-risk areas. I think two-spray sclerotinia programmes could become the norm.
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