Oilseed rape crops are romping through the growth stages with some very large canopies present. The warm conditions are suiting the crop rather too well. Even so, I was rather surprised to find DK Cabernet, drilled at the end of the second week in September, already over 30cm tall. The dry conditions have slowed the spread of [...]
Most, if not all crops, have now been harvested with some huge yields reported. Quality is variable with the main challenge ahead probably marketing and moving the crop. I am hearing reports of some store breakdown, particularly where harvest into store continued during the very hot and dry weather in September. The first ground [...]
A lack of rainfall is continuing to cause problems, especially for later drilled and second wheats. Earlier drilled cereals have generally established well and are at early tillering stages. Dry seed-beds have resulted in variable performance from residual herbicides and in some places SU grassweed herbicide treatments have already been made. If conditions remain relatively mild there may yet be [...]
The dry weather continues. At the time of writing large parts of my area have received less than 25mm of rain this autumn. As such the seedbeds are still relatively open, and the residual herbicides used to date are unlikely to have created as good a chemical seal as last year. That said, you can [...]
After an awful summer we moved into a very dry and unusually warm autumn drilling season. Consequently the winter crops went in to very good conditions and many growers have finished earlier than expected. There are a few winter beans to go in but generally speaking everybody seems to be wrapped up. Most emerged crops look [...]
The vast majority of oilseed rape and cereals crops look really well. The exception has been patchy emergence of cereals on the heavier land but these areas are now beginning to fill in. In wheat attention now turns to using Atlantis (mesosulfuron-methyl and iodosulfuron-methyl) plus a residual partner when the blackgrass has 1-3 leaves. [...]
Once again rainfall across the region has been very variable, with some areas receiving heavy showers but most still being excessively dry for the time of year. In many later-drilled wheat crops germination is patchy, with seed sitting in dry soil. On the plus side, so far there is no sign of blue mould on the [...]
Things have changed little since my input last month – the dry weather has continued except a few millimetres of rain a couple of weeks ago. Early-drilled crops with roots in moisture are growing well, albeit rather slowly, but later cereal crops drilled in the first week of October are standing still and starting [...]