East: Interesting times ahead

Last time I wrote this I’d had enough rain and said so, unfortunately no-one was listening so a month later I have still had enough rain!!

Crops now really want some sunshine to help fill and ripen, and less wet, as this can only mean more disease pressure as harvest will be quite a way off as yet, especially in wheats and oilseed rape.

Many oilseed rape crops now have an added problem, the wind, with several crops being twisted around and going over. To date I have not seen any snapped off and the main problem appears to be the large biomass coupled with the winds and heavy rains loosening the root plates and pulling them over. The decision for which desiccation method is not going to be an easy one.

The thing as far as I am concerned with, going in with a pod sealer alone will be definitely the start to my programme. With differentiation between top and bottom pods and the state of some of the crops, the ability to leave the final decision as to what to use is less difficult knowing the pods should not shatter so easily when you do spray. However, they are not miracle products and any heavy thunderstorms etc will lessen their effects.

I have some winter oats that despite PGR are now  1.75 metres tall and at the time of writing still standing. Winter barleys round here in the main still standing thoughfertiliser overlaps are on the way down. A lot of fingers crossed about the wheats as they get heavier and heavier.

With many demos and trials visit this month it is clear to see that fungicide response work this year should throw some spectacular findings and pull out differences between the various new offerings, particularly with reference to Septoria control. It is very easy to see where timings went wrong due to the weather and also where not backing into corners or missed strips are, as the visual symptoms are all too clear to see.

Sugar beet continue to look very well with only compacted areas and some headlands that have small beet.Weed control still looks good as the beet start to fill over though vigilance for late rape still needed in some.

At least orange blossom midge was not a problem!

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