June 2011 Archives

Philip Vickers

East: Third bruchid spray for spring beans

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Spring beans will be receiving a final bruchid spray as they finish flowering. A pyrethroid and half rate pirimicarb will be used as levels of black bean aphids are increasing. This will be our third bruchid spray in some cases due to the protracted season. Disease levels are still low in bean crops so a low rate triazole and chlorothalonil will be sufficient to keep the crop clean.

The early-maturing oilseed rape varieties are nearing desiccation timing. After recent rains picked up some late nitrogen it has, thankfully, prolonged the pod filling period. All crops will be treated with glyphosate (unless they are for seed).

Most of these treatments will include a pod sealant. With the current value of the seed we are trying to reduce the risk of pod shatter and ensure we harvest as much of the seed yield as we can.
Swaran Bachoo

South: Late septoria strike

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Rain over the past three weeks totalling nearly 75mm and another 45mm in May has saved the day for most crops. Winter wheat at GS80 is now looking fairly good.

Both winter and spring barley will benefit from the rain - winter barley will have the benefit of better grain fill and in the case of the spring barley, weak secondary tillers will now be able to make a useful contribution to the yield.

Winter oilseed rape crops are at the GS6.4 stage - seed at green to brown - and will be ready for desiccation in the next 10 days. Overall, most oilseed rape crops are looking very good and should yield well.

Septoria tritici is now starting to appear on the middle leaves of some crops and mildew is obvious on many. I believe septoria is there because of the poor spraying conditions during April and May and it seems to have been a particularly bad year for mildew. I shall make sure a specific mildewcide is added to the T1 mix next season.
Dan Dines

West: Oilseed rape desiccation begins

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Bets are now being placed on when harvest will start. Some winter barley crops look quite 'fit' from the road, but when walked they are still a bit off harvest yet.  By the time of writing a few early oilseed rape crops will have been sprayed off.

Rainfall in June has seen wheat crops improve. However, I fear the majority are too thin to produce top yields. With quite a number of later, smaller tillers and the difficult season for broad-leaved weed control, there could be more pre-harvest glyphosate used this season.

Whether to apply late foliar nitrogen to milling wheats has prompted much debate. We decided to apply to the crops which look to have reasonable yield potential. Hindsight will tell us if we were right.

Thoughts have already turned to next season. On many farms, a long-term cropping plan is in place, so only minor tweaks have been required. For example, where blackgrass is problematic a spring crop is preferred.
David Martindale

North: Watch out for aphids

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Rainfall during June has improved many crops, but it may have arrived too late for the winter barley. Oilseed rape and wheats generally look well on the heavier land, but wheat on lighter soils or late drilled after roots will struggle to produce good yields. 

Many barley crops have obvious levels of secondary growth. Consider applying pre-harvest glyphosate where necessary as a harvest aid, although getting the application timing right could prove tricky due to the wide maturity variations within a field.

Aphids have been building up again in peas and have required controlling with an insecticide.  Keep monitoring crops as recent warm weather can soon allow aphid numbers to increase quickly above the 20% of plants infested threshold.

The recent rainfall also increases the risk of leaf and pod spot in peas. Therefore, applying a fungicide now will provide some useful protection. Black bean aphid numbers are building up in bean crops which may also warrant an insecticide.

Patrick Stephenson

North: Spraying nearly over

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At long last the weather has changed and well needed moisture has arrived. Recent head counts on the wheat crops reveal numbers are down 10-15% on average years.

It would appear that harvest could be 7-10 days earlier than normal but time will tell.

Spraying is near completion on the wheat crops as final ear wash sprays are applied. No one treatment dominates the area, although tebuconazole offers a cost effective option.

Like many advisors and growers I have looked at scores of fungicide trials and found few if any visual differences. But the more unsettled weather may now tease out a few visual differences.

Cereal leaf beetle has certainly had a "good" year and numbers are very high. Overall, this pest is more visual than yield robbing so remains untreated in most crops.
John Sarup

Spud Special: Pests and disease appearing

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Much need rainfall has fallen over many parts of the areas that I cover across the north of England, however amounts have varied considerably. Canopy development has been good, although I am now coming across damage caused by rhizoctonia, free living nematodes and PCN in patches within fields.

I firmly believe that if crops can achieve complete ground cover by mid-June they are in a good place to make the use of the radiation produced during the long daylight hours of midsummer and convert it to yield.

Having said that there are a number of crops, particularly seed crops which have yet to reach 50% ground cover, however they seem to be producing good tuber numbers.
Bryce Rham

West: Rain sparks grain N concerns

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Since my last blog we in the west have been extremely fortunate in that we have had 10-15mm of rain each week since the 1st dollop arrived. This came just as the flag leaves were emerging and has been enough to allow wheat crops to transform themselves from looking somewhat insipid to dark green.

We do have thin crops on the light land, but with all this late uptake of nitrogen I am expecting there to be good bushel weights. Looking at the crops, we do not appear to be on for an ultra-early harvest as we were originally thinking, but a lot will depend on the weather over the next two to three weeks (ie hot and dry or damp and wet.

The rain was also just in time for the spring barley, but goodness knows what the nitrogen content will be like in the malting sample with all this late nitrogen uptake.
Nick Brown

South: Season drawing to a close

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As this difficult and challenging season draws to a close perhaps the most difficult decision of the season remains, when do we desiccate some of these oilseed rape crops?

If you are one of the lucky ones with even crops and no secondary flowering then the decision will be no harder than normal. Unfortunately, this only applies to about half my crops, the remainder vary from having some secondary flowering, to still flowering, to plants with nearly mature seed on the main raceme.

In some cases I wonder how we can possibly time the desiccant correctly. If we go, timed with the maturity of the main raceme, as normal, then significant red seed will be in the sample. If on the other hand we try and wait till more of the late flowering side branches are mature then we will risk seed shedding from the, by then, brittle pods at the top of the plant.
Brian Ross

East: Rain helps salvage yield potential

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At last rain has arrived. It's been too late for many spring cereal crops in this area, but welcome none the less.

Crops have certainly turned a lot greener and lifted themselves off the floor, particularly the wheats. This, in turn, has increased the number of ear sprays being applied and has perhaps increased the yield forecasts for good wheats by 1 to 1.25t/ha, which is a lot better than we were first looking at.

Of course, with this rain we now have a lot of greenery appearing in the bottom of thin cereals and I suspect that a lot of pre-harvest glyphosate will be needed.

Oilseed rape crops have benefited from the swelling of seeds in the pods and although record yields I feel are not on the cards, some very respectable ones could be attained. Desiccation is not far off in the lighter soils and amongst the few early varieties.
Tod Hunnisett

South: Rain justifies T3 fungicide sprays

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The rain has finally arrived and for the second time this year the countryside has turned green overnight. Whether it is in time enough to save any struggling wheat or barley crops I'm not sure, but it is certainly a welcome sight. 

 

It has certainly justified continuing with the T3 fungicide protection programme, as many of these crops will now continue to stay green for a near normal period of time. To that end, all my wheats will have had a triazole/strobilurin ear-wash by the time this report goes to press. However, the overall fungicide spend this year will be similar or less than last year. 

 

The rain has meant final germination of all the spring-drilled crops and as soon as the weather warms up I'm sure the maize will take off nicely. As it was so dry at drilling hardly any crops received a pre-emergence herbicide and those that did nearly all need over-spraying. 

David Cairns

After another 25mm of rainfall over the weekend and with more rain forecast for this week, I am waiting for the first comment wishing it to stop. That aside our crops have greened up fantastically in the last week to fortnight as they pick up some much needed nitrogen and move on.

Crops look fantastic from the road, but maybe when you get into them they are all a tiller short. The crops looked similar at the same stage last season around here and they went on to yield well because they got adequate sunshine in June. So now we have had a bit of moisture, we could do with some sunshine and warmth, but not too much.

Winter barley may be starting to turn and I am just hoping that with heavy rain and winds that they remain standing until harvest. I don't think that harvest will be much earlier than normal with this crop, but a lot depends on weather from now on.

Marion Self

East: Aphids found in wheat and pulses

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Crops have responded well to recent rainfall with many looking greener and more robust. Whilst the availability of earlier applied nitrogen will improve grain fill, at best we can hope to maximise the remaining potential of each crop.

For milling wheats, assessing the need to apply a top-up of foliar nitrogen is difficult and may ultimately depend on the size of the expected premium. For lower-yielding crops, late nitrogen uptake may be enough to ensure that the required grain protein is achieved. However, higher-yielding milling wheats are more likely to require a top of foliar nitrogen to achieve specification, which can be applied until milky ripe.

Aphid colonies are present in both wheat and pulses. At the moment, populations in wheat are relatively low with an abundance of predators in many crops.  However, keep an eye on these populations as they could build quickly and move on to the ear if temperatures warm up. In pulses, if a second fungicide is outstanding check whether an additional aphicide is also required.

Neil Potts

West: Late rainfall boosts crops

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At last we have had some widespread rainfall with everyone getting a good soaking. Until now, the rain we have had has been patchy and showery with some getting just about enough and others getting nothing at all. The upshot of the patchy rain has been extremely variable crops with some growers delighted with harvest prospects and others disappointed by the damage done by drought

Wheat crops have remained relatively free of disease with very low pressure from septoria. I never thought I would be writing that in this part of the world. There are reports of yellow rust, particularly in Oakley, but where growers have stuck to a reasonable fungicide programme, this disease has also been well controlled.

The debate at the moment revolves around whether to apply T3s to the wheats. This decision will have been made easier by the rain. If the weather is now going to be unsettled, the main benefit of the T3 will be to prevent late ear diseases as there is no need for a late septoria top-up this year.

Hamish Coutts

North : Tried and trusted products to the fore

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The severe winds of last week have left many crops battered and extremely dewaxed. Cereal crops sprayed soon after are showing signs of scorch.

 

On the whole, most oilseed rape crops had finished pollination so the premature removal of the last of the petals should not have too great an impact on yield. Any aphids daft enough to take flight will now be swimming in the North Sea. However, if the weather settles down and temperatures increase, be vigilant in checking for these pests. 

 

Unsuitable spraying conditions have meant that some spray intervals may have been compressed, however, it is important that growers aim to keep up with their fungicide plans as there are many crops in this area with good yield potential that needs to be protected.

Neil Donkin

West: Don't forget the spring crops

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There has been a decent amount of rain for some areas over the weekend, but sadly, not for all.

Most winter wheat is now in flower so safe from orange wheat blossom midge, but the later crops, with ears just emerging, still need monitoring. As grain starts to fill, all crops need to be checked for aphids in the ears. Aphid populations were building in the warm weather, but the large numbers of ladybirds in crops this year seem to be limiting the infestation. Spray only if threshold numbers are found and use a product safe to beneficial insects.

T3 fungicides have been applied in the past week though the dry conditions have deterred some growers from spraying, especially where T2 was delayed until ears were emerging .

With winter crop treatments nearly finished, don't forget the spring crops. They may have been badly affected by the drought, but they are of potentially high value so need looking after.

Will Foss

East: T3 decisions and pests aplenty

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Some rain has appeared at last within the past couple of weeks - enough to potentially encourage disease development. Any crops with reasonable yield potential are being topped up with a T3 treatment to extend the period of protection and try to maximise green leaf retention and increase grain fill. 

In milling wheats, the T3 is also targeted at fusarium as the dry spring has been conducive to F culmorum development which has been climbing up the leaf layers as confirmed by monitoring sites. The risk of subsequent disease development on the ear is increased by wet weather.  Also yellow rust is likely to become more active with increased leaf wetness so susceptible varieties will also be candidates for a T3 top-up fungicide.

Grassweed control has generally been good where stale seed-beds and pre-emergence residuals were successfully utilised in the autumn. Early autumn Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) treatments worked well, but conditions for spring applications were not always ideal. 

Colin Sharp

South: Making the most of every grain

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With all our winter wheats in full ear a good 7-10 days earlier than normal, we're just looking for rain now for for grain filling. And we could certainly do with plenty of it to help make-up for the woeful lack of tillers and such limited leaf area.

 

Some decent rainfall in June will do wonders for our morale; especially after we saw so few millimetres over the bank holiday weekend. But even if we get it, wheat yields look like being down by various amounts depending on soil type.

 

With this inevitability our management focus has shifted to making the most of every grain by capturing as much value from the market as we can. Which means maximising crop quality and minimising harvesting losses.