Warm autumn days and moist soils have encouraged quick establishment of early September sown wheats and late-sown oilseed rape, although many mid to late September sown oilseed rape crops are still small and vulnerable.
Generally cereal seed-beds are good or reasonable, which should, along with moist soil conditions, help maximise the efficacy of pre- and peri-emergence herbicides. Early completion of these sprays before the target weeds have emerged and started to grow will also improve activity.
A fair proportion of winter wheat has been drilled into excellent conditions after a good emergence of grassweeds was sprayed off pre-drilling.
The recent showers have generally been welcomed, so long as they don't go on for too long. A lot of wheat is being followed up with pre-emergence herbicides in different guises which is also very satisfactory.
I'm pleased to say the vast majority of arable farmers have accepted, and adopted the principle of pre-emergence or very early post-emergence herbicides and have geared themselves up accordingly.
Once again the weather is playing a big part in proceedings. Soils are now very wet in some areas after more than 3 inches of rainfall over the last 10-14 days.
Seed harvest in Yorkshire seems to be progressing well with acceptable yields and generally good quality. Harvest of main crop into store has only just got started, with yield, size and quality hugely variable.
Crop intelligence pre harvest is crucial for understanding what issues might affect storage and what action may be required at or after harvest to maintain quality and health. Regular digging of crops pre harvest enables growers to identify
potential problem crops and plan their storage accordingly.
Common scab
and raised lenticels are the biggest concerns for me at present as
essentially they are wounds through which disease infection can enter.
Harvest is more or less over. We've had some deluges of rain in the past week and we will have to see how this has affected quality in the later-harvested crops
Now that fields are cleared the focus is very much on establishing next years cereal crop. Seed-beds have been tremendous so far, but again after the wet weather they may require a bit more patience.
I am seeing a lot of growers investing in seed treatments for disease and pest control as the benefits become more accepted. Crops that have been drilled are emerging really quickly as soils have sufficient moisture and are relatively warm.
Unlike other parts of the country the shortage of flufenacet products isn't as major a problem as we have other options available as our targets are mainly meadow grass and broadleaved weeds. We have saved our flufenacet products for the fields with history of brome and blackgrass and will be going early post-emergence on other fields.
Following our fourth rain delayed harvest on the trot, drilling is now underway in the region. With much of the oilseed rape drilled well into September it may well be necessary to apply some nitrogen in order to get the crops well enough established to go through the winter without too many problems.
At the time of writing I have already seen one rape crop devastated by rabbits. Pre-emergence herbicides are working well at the moment, but with the rapid turn around between crops, cereal volunteers are going to be a major problem. This will need dealing with early in the crop's life to avoid unwanted competition and the sucking up of any nitrogen that might be applied to get the crop going.
Cereal planting is happening, but is always a fairly protracted affair in this part of the world as many crop follow late harvested crops such as grass and maize. Many growers in the region also worry about getting crops too proud going into the winter, particularly barley which can collapse on itself and rot if the canopy gets too large.
Harvest north of the border has been a bit of a mixed bag. The south of the country is finished with variable yields dependant on water supply during the summer. In the central belt it is more or less over apart from some spring oats and beans. Yield and quality has, in general, been good as we had enough moisture when we needed it.
A bit more sun in August would have been a bonus. The north east is another story. Yield potential up to a few weeks ago looked excellent but with most of the spring barley and winter wheat still to cut and the weather playing up growers will be anxious about the eventual out-turn. Inevitably this will have a knock on effect with regard to next year's cropping if fields become pulverised by the current harvesting activity.
Oilseed rape crops already sown are growing away well. The moist soils have sparked a flush of volunteer cereals which will shortly be taken out with a graminicide. If a pre-emergence spray was achieved it will have been metazachlor/clomazome based. If missed then an early post emergence application of metazachlor/quinmerac should suffice. The old faithful, propyzamide, is always there as a fallback.
Rain forecast for early this week should help to encourage growth of young oilseed rape plants on thinner soils where the surface soil had just started to dry out. Some growers are applying a low dose of N while temperatures remain sufficiently high for the plant to make use of it. Once we get into October a "fire engine" dose of N is less effective.
On more moisture-retentive soil the rape is growing strongly and has reached the four leaf stage. Blackgrass is also developing well and needs early treatment. Normally at this stage a low dose propaquizafop would be applied to control volunteers, with blackgrass control following later. This year, in many cases, both jobs will be done in one, using Laser or Aramo.
There was little sign of slugs in rape crops at emergence but they are beginning to show up now. Backward crops in particular need careful monitoring, as patches of crop can disappear overnight. Where pelleting is necessary, remember that there is a maximum limit of 210gm/ha for a single dose of metaldehyde.
The rain we've had over the past month may not have been ideal for harvesting but it has meant we're starting the new cropping season with some of the most promising seedbed conditions I've had across my patch in recent years.
Grass weeds and volunteers have all grown away well following harvest and we're looking to fit in two rounds of stale seedbeds ahead of wheat drilling wherever weed problems have become particularly pressing. And where we can't we'll include a compatible glyphosate with some of the pre-emergence sprays to give them a helping hand.
A decent amount of soil moisture will really help us make the most of the pre-emergence products we're increasingly relying on for our weed control these days. Wherever we can afford it we'll be stacking them - using combinations of flufenacet, prosulfocarb, pendimathalin, chlorotoluron and diflufenican - for maximum effect.
Crops in Scotland are either burnt down or very close to being burnt down. Desiccation options this year were centred on combinations including pulverisation and chemical application particularly within the seed crops.
In ware crops the options for pulverisation were more varied and many crops were being burnt down with split dose diquat which as the weather has turned away from previously bright conditions has given quite favourable results. Although, after desiccation, some areas of regrowth are being observed particularly where the bottom of the stem and leaf was not completely killed or removed.
The stress that some parts of fields were under during the growing season has highlighted areas affected by issues including in particular rhizoctonia, sclerotinia and alternaria.
The harvest finished about two weeks ago and we have had some amazingly good yields despite a very dry May and June. Milling wheat crops have yielded in excess of 8.60 t/ha and feed wheat has done just the under 10t/ha.
The oilseed rape has also produced some spectacular yields ranging 4.20 to 4.70 t/ha. What seemed to be a moderate harvest back in June has turned out to be a profitable one, especially when coupled with the fairly high commodity prices.
The majority of the oil seed rape crop has been drilled and sprayed pre emergent with Oryx (Metazachlor+Quinmerac) plus adjuvant Grounded. Where cleavers are expected to be a problem Cirrus (Clomazone) has been added at a low doze rate.
Any oilseed rape crop that has not been sprayed so far can still be sprayed post emergence once the majority of the plants have emerged, but ensure that heavy rain is not imminent post spraying since metazachlor based products can notoriously affect the germination of the rape seed if come in contact.
As 2010 harvest draws to a close in a beautiful September the best phrase to sum the year up is "A curate's egg", good in parts. Fertility and soil type have been key aspects for the year reflecting the cold dry early spring, with deep fertile soils yielding very well when compared to shallow or light soils.
Oilseed rape drilling is nearly complete and once again we lock horns with weed control issues. Knowing the enemy is a key factor with poppy, cranesbill and cleavers singled out for particular attention.
Metazachlor will be a staple with quinmerac and clomazone added as per weed spectrum. The early drilled rape has established well and is ready for the first graminicide, flea beetle grazing is not widespread but specific fields will have a insecticide added. Further grass weed control will be linked to the degree of blackgrass or brome present.
Last week I wondered what had happened to the slug population since, despite my best efforts, I couldn't find any, or much evidence of activity. Very few of my rape crops had received a dose of slug pellets, but in the last couple of days I have seen some evidence of slug activity and have now had to pellet in places.
Mindful of the 210g/ha metaldehyde limit before the end of December I am using a 1.5% formulation pellet which works just as well and would allow three applications between now and the year end.
Numbers are still low compared to last year and very low compared to autumn 2008. Hopefully if we are all responsible with pellet usage metaldehyde will still be with us this time next year.
Harvest seems to be dragging on for some although good progress has been made this last week. Levels of sprouting seem relatively low considering the deluge of rain we have had and reports of Hagbergs of up to 225 in Solstice post rain are very surprising.
Thank goodness for a dry hot sunny week last week. I would guess more acres were cut last week than in the whole of the previous 5-6 weeks. The combines started rolling on the Sunday and went full chat all week. The wheat harvest is approximately 95% cut with the majority of farms finished cutting. Combines are now moving into winter and spring beans with the odd bit of late-sown spring barley still to cut.
Wheat yields have been all over the place (3-4.5t/acre) and has primarily come down to light land/heavy land with the best yields coming off the very fertile heavy land. Quality in the main has been good, but specific weights have suffered slightly between the early and later cut crops. There have been odd reports of wheat sprouting towards the end of last week, but mainly on crops on lighter land that had burnt off quite early on.
Oilseed rape drilling commenced on 23 August, with the majority going in last week. Some crops from the week before got quite severe rainfall and have capped slightly so could do with some rain to help it through. Light land early sown crops are at two true leaves, with most of last week's drillings starting to emerge. Guessing that somewhere in the region of 80-85% of the crop is now in. Primary varieties are Cubic, DK Cabernet, Vision and Fashion with some clients managing to get a small acreage of Sesame. Crops have been sown at 60-70 seeds/sq m, with some brave souls going down to 50 seeds/sq m.
What a struggle harvest has been. The spring drought seems to have had a much bigger impact on final production than was first thought, but increased prices have helped offset some of the yield losses.
Winter barley yields and quality have been good, but after a promising start spring barleys ended up being very varied in both yield and quality. Most of these problems can be pinned on the lack of nitrogen uptake due to a three-month dry period. Wheat yields in this area look to be averaging around 8.75t/ha, which is approaching a tonne down on last year.
Careful soil management will be needed where harvest has been delayed, mainly where trailers have been running on soggy fields. However, I have had clients telling me that the subsoil it is still dry and the problems are mainly at the soil surface.
