Recently by Dan Dines

The recent prolonged dry spell has allowed good progress with fieldwork, but how long before we are saying we need some rain!

Its important not to force spring crop seed-beds, and in many cases previously ploughed or cultivated soil has had to be 'moved' to dry it out.  That said where spring beans and spring barley has been planted seed-beds look good.

Spring beans will receive a robust pre-em, as post-em options are limited, expensive and un-reliable.  Avadex (tri-allate) is being used pre-em on some spring barley fields where we have bad black-grass.  With both these pre-em treatments we are dependant on some moisture before too long to achieve reasonable activity.

Some autumn sown winter barley and wheat crops have suffered frost lift, especially on thin chalks.  The worst affected fields will be rolled.  Unsually there is also some fields of rape where frost lift is also evident.

Cold or wet conditions have limited spraying opporunities, prevented applications of P&K fertiliser etc.....  Ploughing/cultivations for spring crops has been possible on light chalks, but most other soils remain too wet to work.

The un-exciting prospects for spring crops mean fallow will be used in the occasional field which has particular weed issues.

Winter cereal crops have come through the cold and snow relatively unscathed, and any untreated crops will no longer need an aphicide.  Some frost lift has been seen, but levels do not appear too damaging.

Although we had the best of intentions to apply Atlantis in the autumn to small black-grass plants, this was in many cases not possible.  Black-grass is now well tillered, and it is vital to take every step possible to maximise product efficacy.

The last two weeks have seen very few opportunites for spraying with wet and windy conditions dominating.  Thus far in November I have measured 5.5 inches of rain, so if you took the sprayer into some fields I dont think it would get out!

Occasional fields have seen persistent slug activity and have required more than one application of pellets.  However, in general slug problems have been significantly lower than last autumn.

Winter barley and some early-drilled wheats are now lush and soft so care needs to be taken when spraying, especially if frosts are forecast.  These crops are also carrying high levels of disease, particularly mildew. 

Significant black-grass emergence has been found in some fields.  The pre-em's have struggled this year in early-drilled crops given the dry conditions.  This is perhaps not suprising given that in some situations the pre-em was applied six weeks before the blackgrass started to emerge.

In these situations autumn application of Atlantis is planned, but the weather will dictate when it actually goes on.  If autumn conditions are not conducive to maximising the efficacy of the product then we will resort to a spring application.

Many rape crops are now very strong, arguably too strong, as they are up to the top of my wellies!  This should, however, help in the battle against pigeons!

Phoma was first seen in rape approximately three weeks ago, but it has not really developed very rapidly.  That said, trying to get a dry leaf to apply fungicides has been challenging, so where the opportunity has arisen crops have been sprayed.

Propyzamide or carbetamide applications have been planned for grassweed control, and we await suitable conditions for application.  Quite how we can successfully get these residual herbicides onto the soil through some of these very large crop canopies remains to be seen.

Thoughts are now turning to spring cropping decisions.  A balance needs to be struck between gross margin budgets and maintaining a sustainable rotation.  An area for healthy debate between agronomist and farmer!

But patience is required as although these crops don't look very pretty at the moment, I think they will be OK.

This patchy emergence is made all the more frustrating as seed-beds are generally good.

Thoughts are already turning to how we can tweak cultivation methods and timing as necessary in future autumns in order to conserve moisture.

Slugs have been an issue in places since the rain arrived. It is Important to protect the aforementioned wheat seed that is emerging but is lacking in vigour.

Early drilled rape crops are now up and away, with two to four leaves, and some may require a growth regulatory fungicide in a few weeks.

These crops tend to be after winter barley, and while the economics of this crop can be questioned, it has clear benefits in respect to the following rape crop.

In contrast, very little rain in September and strong winds have meant late planted crops are sat in dry soil, yet to germinate. There are also some crops with split emergence. Spraying these crops is a bit tricky, with plants at different growth stages, and sprays requiring the crop to be at expanded cotyledon stage.

Many crops have had some autumn nitrogen, but the dry conditions have meant we are yet to really see a response. Slug pellets have been required in some cases.

I think farmers and agronomists alike will be glad when harvest is complete and we can start afresh next season.

The recent hot, dry spell has highlighted different soil types and areas of compaction, as crops have started to burn up in patches. Subsoilers are at the ready to carry out remedial work.

The dry spring resulted in relatively low septoria pressure this year, with only small differences visible between various treatments in fungicide trials. We await results to assess the economics of programmes this season to see whether any treatments stand out.

A recent visit to TEAGASC in Ireland with a group of farmers was an eye opener, with the disease having defoliated untreated plots. Given the very high septoria pressure, their fungicides are under extreme pressure, the results providing useful pointers for us.