Recently by Colin Sharp

It's definitely been a case of better late than never in the past month. A good 5-8cm of rain in June has made all the difference to much of our winter wheat and with it our morale.  At least we should now see some decent bushel weight compensation for all those lost tillers.

The much-needed rain has, however, brought us extra harvesting challenges to add to that of highly variable oilseed rape crops.

We've seen a major flush of weed growth in the bottom of the thin, but thankfully now very much greener, wheats we have on all but the light ground.

With plenty of available nitrogen in the ground - not to mention stay green fungicides and later-maturing varieties - we'll also be in for more than our fair share of delayed crop ripening and secondary tillering.

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.

We're really beginning to get the déjà-vu feeling here this spring. After just 24% of our 'normal' rainfall in March we've barely seen 10% over the past month. Its hardly enough to dampen the surface, and not much over this weekend either.

 

One of my client's very accurate rainfall record-keeping reveals a grand total of 3mm of rain last month. But back in April 2007 he had only 1mm and most of his crops still delivered well. So the season isn't necessarily set poor ... not yet, at least !

 

Having said that, most crops on lighter land across our patch are really struggling and significant yield losses seem inevitable even if the drought breaks in the coming week. Many spring sowings, in particular, are looking horrendous.

 

Heavier land crops that got their feet down well last autumn are hanging on in there, though. They're a good bit shorter than normal which may be no bad thing for many.  And some second wheats, benefitting from earlier N in February when there was still decent moisture about, are again threatening to outshine neighbouring first wheats.

 

Providing we get some reasonable rain by mid-May most of our winter cereals should be OK. But, with plenty of Septoria lurking on the lower leaves, very warm temperatures and a much reduced splash distance - courtesy of short crops - we could easily see wheat disease levels explode with any rain.

 

While the yellow rust risk is fading fast, we're clearly moving into brown rust territory now. So we'll be looking to the particular disease-combating powers of bixafen-based, Boogie as our mainstay at T2. The greater green leaf-improving powers than other SDHIs we've seen in our SMART Farm trials will be much appreciated too as we do everything we can to minimise crop stress.

 

Most of our wheats had a robust PGR regime at T0 and less at T1, so hopefully they won't be needing any extra attention to cope with a sudden growth surge from rapid nitrogen uptake when we do get some rain. But foliar magnesium will be a must to maximise green leaf retention and aid grain fill, and with the proven benefits of Nutriphite PGA at T3 in keeping roots going, we may try to bring some applications forward to T2 on more drought-prone ground.

 

As there's so little nitrogen going in through the roots, in some cases we're also considering applying 10kg/ha of urea a week or so after T2 - as soon as the crops have recovered their waxing - if we don't get significant rain by then.

 

As far as the oilseed rape is concerned, we've really done all we can. From here on it's really a matter of keeping our fingers crossed for enough rain to maintain pod numbers and ensure a decent fill. But not too much to batter the crops, of course !

 

Just like the cereals, the one thing this season really proves, yet again, is the importance of getting establishment right. Do this and, as it's plain to see wherever you look, the crops have far more resilence in coping with yet another challenging spring.

The small amount of rain that fell in March has been welcome. It helped get our spring-drilled crops off to a decent start as well as allowing our winter crops to green up nicely from their early nitrogen dressings.

 

The early mildew threat is thankfully subsiding with cereals growing away well from high levels of infection. However, the recent rain is keeping septoria tritici at the forefront of our minds, with denser crops at particular risk from spores splashed up from the lower leaves. Recent dewy nights and coolish days are ideal yellow rust conditions. So, even though we have yet to see a problem, we are keeping our eyes firmly peeled and our protection levels up.

 

With a good triazole plus chorothalonil T0 base, we are moving into our T1 spraying as Leaf 3 emerges with growing confidence. Septoria will be our main focus here, with Helix (prothioconazole + spiroxamine) our first choice to combat and guard against the rust and mildew threat as well. Our second wheats, which are thickening out well from their extra early nitrogen, will get a higher rate to counter eyespot and help fusarium control.

 

What a difference a couple of weeks make. Our days are lengthening visibly now and, despite sporadic frosts, temperatures are building nicely and crops are growing away strongly. Our early fertiliser dressings are in full swing, together with winter post-emergence sprays to hit any surviving blackgrass. And we're gearing-up for T0 fungicide and PGR spraying, too.

After all the pre-Christmas delays, it's good to have had conditions that finally allow us to get on with the Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron). Solid pre-planting glyphosate control followed by robust pre-emergence programmes have allowed us to keep well on top of blackgrass for the most part.

But wherever it's still a problem we're putting on full rate Atlantis with Biopower plus extra adjuvant for penetration and water conditioning. This combination has given a valuable 2-3% extra control in some of our trials.

The coldest December in more than 100 years gave us a good 24 days of air frost here in the South East. While our first wheats and earlier-established oilseed rapes have come through this trial by ice remarkably well, it hasn't done any favours for later-drilled crops

The cold weather has really opened up more backward OSR crops, for instance, and many have been laid bare by the pigeons. Once again, I've no doubt the time and effort we put into selecting vigorous hybrids and encouraging early root development will pay dividends, ensuring they bounce back strongly as soon as growth recommences.

Even so, to compensate for the leaf loss we'll be prioritising them for early spring nitrogen, carefully balanced with sulphur wherever required, as soon as we can get on the ground later this month.

Despite a quiet sense of satisfaction, vigilance is very much our key watchword this month.

Almost without exception, our cereal and oilseed rape crops have established well and are going into the winter full of promise. And with commodity prices continuing to bring a smile to our faces, we're very much on the alert to nip anything that might compromise 2011 output firmly in the bud.

Phoma really should be a bigger problem on our rape than it is by now given the warm and wet conditions we've been having. But highly resistant varieties like DK Expower and Excel are proving well able to cope with the challenge both in our SMART Farm plots and commercial crops.

 

We're keeping a special watch on varieties with lower phoma ratings, though. In particular, infected crops that weren't forward enough for a metconazole spray are likely to profit from higher rate fusilazole or prothioconazole this month to give extra kick-back and protection.

Careful management of oilseed rape will be vital this autumn; especially with early-drilled crops which have established very well and are now at six true leaves and beyond.

Where phoma is only just starting to appear, we'll be getting on with metconazole or tebuconazole in the next week or so to optimise rooting and lateral bud development whilst protecting against infection. Where thresholds have been reached, we'll employ a more curative fusilazole mix, prioritising any small, backward crops.

At the same time, we'll be including Nutriphite PGA with the fungicide to give an extra boost to root development, and taking the opportunity to ensure our crops are well-balanced for trace elements - boron, in particular, on light and chalky ground.

 

 

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.