May 2009 Archives

As predicted, once crops woke up they raced through their development. First awns were showing on some winter barley crops by the third week of April and well-established Soissons - yes, we still grow loads in the south of England - had its flag leaf showing at the same time.

Fortunately, we are not chasing disease, but what was planned as a late T0 has actually gone on at traditional T1 timing, so I'm glad I've kept triazole rates relatively robust.

Spring crops have gone in superbly and generally speaking are developing very evenly. Spring barley is showing a few growing pains and in the worst cases this can be rectified with trace elements. But usually I just leave them to it and they grow out of it on their own.

Pre-emergence herbicides on peas and beans seem to have worked very well. Pea and bean weevil attacks have been sporadic, with some very bad and some not at all, so good inspection and prompt treatment is necessary.

Most Favourite Recommendation of the Year Award goes to the ear-wash on winter wheat, which, hopefully, puts the crop to bed and means the end of the silly season is in sight.

Mine will be a 60-75% triazole dose plus 50% strobilurin. Some will be late-flag/early-ear combined and some of my later wheats will have had only two applications of pretty chunky doses of fungicides.

It's interesting to see what effect the early, robust applications had on mildew without the addition of specific mildewicides; those that didn't get their first fungicides until late certainly have considerably higher levels of mildew.

I suppose we have to start thinking about the dreaded orange wheat blossom midge (yawn) soon, but I doubt many of my crops will be treated.

Our wishes have come true in that rain has rescued crops. We're now getting warmer weather and markets have improved, but we can never be fully happy. Wind means spray days have been few and far between.

Winter wheat has been developing steadily and we have a lot of flag leaves emerging. Many growers have not long since applied their T1 spray, but as the flag leaf emerges it is unprotected. So they should still be prepared to go in at correct timing to ensure this vital yield-boosting leaf is protected.

Recently some crops have started to develop mildew at the base of the plants, so a mildewicide, such as Justice (proquinazid) or Flexity (metrafenone), should be included in T2 spray to try to keep the disease off the ears.

Septoria is noticeable only at low levels, but after recent rain splash and warmer temperatures, it will develop rapidly in unprotected crops. So the backbone of our T2 fungicide will be epoxiconazole based at a rate sufficient to give eradication and protection, complemented with strobilurin as required and chlorothalonil.

Early-drilled winter wheat is now at boot swollen. Mildew is confined to wheat stems and remains low risk. Yellow rust could be found earlier on Robigus where fungicide timings were extended, but is now back under control.

Brown rust hasn't been seen so far this season, but a change to warmer weather could see it become a high risk. Septoria tritici is the main concern at this T2 timing, with levels in the south reportedly the highest in the country.

The cold winter, early spring and robust growth regulation programmes have led to shorter-than-normal plants, resulting in disease pressure increasing by direct disease transfer rather than rain splash.

Winter barley, fully in ear, looks extremely promising. Rhynchosporium and net blotch have been well controlled by robust two-spray fungicide programmes. Mildew levels remain low.

We have a huge range of field-by-field potential, especially in autumn-sown crops. As everyone knows, this is linked to wet soils during the 2008 harvest.

Tyre technology for tractors and trailers has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years and they can, of course, be restricted to headlands. But combines caused much of the compaction problem.

Their tyre size has not kept up with their increase in weight and the need for large grain tanks to cope with high outputs. Width on the road is the problem. Yes, tracks are available, but the typical sub-400ha unit would see them as a 1-in-10-year requirement.

Compaction is a crop killer and its effects have been most clearly seen in winter oilseed rape.

Winter wheats have improved after finally receiving some rain, which has allowed nitrogen to be washed in.

Flag leaves are emerging on the earlier crops and will soon be ready to receive the T2 fungicide, which will be based on a triazole plus chlorothalonil mix. The addition of a good strobilurin will certainly be required on rust-susceptible varieties.

With several T1 fungicide applications delayed due to persistent strong winds, it may be tempting to delay the T2 application. But be careful not to leave it too long, as Septoria tritici can soon establish under the right conditions. Late PGR applications will be restricted to a few high lodging risk crops that aren't under too much stress at present.

Some winter barleys on the heavier or wetter land have not enjoyed the season so far, with many failing to tiller well and still appearing very open. I hope yields in these fields are better than expected when the combines begin to roll.

The recent warm weather and some rain has enabled the crops to make rapid growth.

Those that were seven days behind earlier in the season are now at the same growth stage as they were last year.

Winter barley is at GS 49, awns just visible, and will be sprayed, weather permitting, this week with Jaunt (prothioconazole + trifloxystrobin + fluoxastrobin) + chlorothalonil.

Please note that the latest timing for the use of chlorothalonil at the T2 is GS 51(before first spikelet visible).

Crops remain slow to develop and disease is noticeable by its absence, but recent rains have spurred farmers on to apply T1 wheat fungicide sprays.

Yield potential across the acreage isn't looking great - "average" would be my favoured expression.

Despite the best advice to use Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) last autumn, nature conspired to ensure the vast majority has been applied in the spring.

Walking sprayed fields now shows some variable performance, but, on the whole, weed control remains good. However, open canopies are encouraging fathen, cleavers and knotgrass revivals, so over-spraying looks like it will be required on some fields.