Recently in East Category

Although days have lengthened and the rain has dissipated, soils remain very cold and crop development is being held back.  Nevertheless, most fields have been accessible by machinery during the last two to three weeks, allowing first nitrogen and sulphur top dressings to be applied to wheats, barleys and oilseed rape.

Low soil mineral nitrogen levels have resulted in all crops receiving a top dressing in early March.  We've been utilising variable rate spreading to help even up canopies with this initial nitrogen application. In addition, we have also been evaluating the success or otherwise of variable seeding rates in winter wheat now that a final assessment of plant population and establishment can be made. 

There is considerable frost lift in some cereal crops, especially on chalk soils and lighter soils where seed was drilled a bit too shallow - the worst areas will be targeted with the rolls.  There is a risk of poor anchorage this year in many crops where root development has been restricted by cold wet conditions and where frost lift has occurred. 

In the previous Crop watch report I commented how well the crops had come out of the winter, however most of them had been insulated with a cover of snow,protecting them from  freezing temperatures.

Febuary has seen a mean temperature of 2.4 degrees,  with a maximum of 7.3 and lowest of -2.6 degrees, March so far has fared no better. Soil temperatures  got to heady heights of 4.4, but have soon dipped to 3.3and below Winter rape crops with large canopies have lost their  outer leaves,  the nitrogen will have been dissapaited to new growth.

In crops with large canopies I have found evidence of stem cracking, which is associated with frost damege. This pheneomen appeared a few years ago when the term wind chill factor entered our vocabulary. Having done some reaseach ,  I have found a scientific paper that  suggests that large canopied rape is more susceptible to damage from low temperatues and increasing day length.

Have just finished subscribing to the "build your own Noahs ark" kit!!! The land is absolutely saturated and any thoughts of land work will be on hold for a fair time. Conditions that some of the late sugar beet were lifted in means the soil structure has been well and truly compromised.
 
With prices of spring cropping not looking too clever careful thought must be made as to whether these fields should be left fallow in order to try and restructure the soil during the year.
This could form part of your contribution to the Campaign for Farmed Environment in that a cover crop of, for instance, mustard etc will help both you and the wildlife provided it is not cut down until after nesting.

Some fallow land I did last year worked very well on both counts particularly in sucking up the excess moisture enabling it to be ploughed very well in the autumn. Rape crops have been attacked quite badly by pigeons so that the crops with large leaf area last time I wrote are now not! This has implications for the amounts of N for the first application.

You've probably heard the phrase "planning prevents poor performance" or something similar!  Nitrogen planning should be complete and in accordance with NVZ regulations N max calculations and demonstration of compliance should be documented before any field applications are made.  Fungicide prices are beginning to firm and prudent growers will have considered programmes based on price and products that provide the chosen actives at best value.

The weatherman promises warmer conditions at the beginning of March.   As soon as it starts to warm up rapeseed crops will be ready for their first nitrogen application (usually including sulphur). Followed by first dressings on barley, second, subsequent, later and then earlier drilled wheats. So have the spreader poised for action.

Field conditions are still very soggy and the drains are running well. Oilseed rape has much better establishment and growth than last year, but pigeons are starting to be a problem. It's too late for Kerb (propyzamide) so you need to move to carbetamex for weed control.

A lot of crops were not sprayed for phoma - consequently the disease is rife and needs controlling. Flusilazole applied at up to 0.5-0.6l/ha should give good control. Light leaf spot isn't really a problem in this area, but it is a disease that likes the cold so it needs looking out for.

First nitrogen applications are high up the agenda once the crop starts growing and most will be putting on nitrogen and sulphur. We'll be carrying out SMN testing before making the first nitrogen application and at stem extension we will look at plant growth regulator fungicide options. Metconazole is good where there is excessive growth.

Although the weather during 2010 has not been conducive to spraying, more recently opportunities have been taken to drill spring beans and to continue lifting sugar beet.  Despite the freezing conditions during January most beet crops in the ground suffered very little root damage especially where canopy cover remained to provide some protection. 

I have not seen any significant damage from the cold weather and the snow on wheat or rape.  Rape canopies have shrunk somewhat since the late autumn so to get an accurate picture of crop nitrogen content we are weighing and sampling for dry matter and nitrogen content. 

Soil mineral nitrogen sampling has been hampered by weather and travelling conditions but early indications are that results are as low or lower than last season (0-90cm sampling depth).  This is to be expected given that winter precipitation has been higher than average and with soil temperatures around 3c the nitrogen cycle has shut down. 

SMN sampling wheat after OSR is showing some particularly low levels which may be explained by higher than average rape yields in 2009.  At least we have had time to catch up on paperwork and draft nitrogen planners and check all NVZ requirements are in place.

Snow in January covered crops,  and allowed management plans to be completed. Now the snow has gone and crops are  visible. 

Last week saw an opportunity for the last few outstanding propyzamide and carbetamide applications on oilseed rape to take place. Rape crops appear to have come through the winter so far unscathed, but it is early days and it will be interesting to see if the extremely low temperatures will have effected some of the large canopy crops internally.

Residual herbicides applied to rape prior to Christmas appear to be working extremely well. The hard frosts seem to have taken care of any charlock,  hopefully removing the need to use Fox (Bifenox) . The root structure on most crops I have looked at look are good. Crops  going into winter with large canopies, will allow us to use lower rates of nitrogen, and this may be the first year when fungicides with growth regulator effects will be used on a larger percentages of the crop.

A new year, but not a lot has happened on the crops as yet, apart from, that is, the weather.

In this part of the world we have had quite a lot of snow which has been a blessing as far as the very forward crops of rape are concerned. Several years ago we had not only severe cold temperatures, but a lot more snow than this year. However, the severe cold had weakened the forward crops so much that the rape collapsed and suffered from snow rot.

This year however, the snow came before the severe cold and acted as an insulating layer so no collapsing rape. In fact, most crops at the moment look very well.

It's time to shut the gate.  Despite the recent unsettled and blowy weather most growers have all but completed their scheduled autumn sprays.

As temeratures fall and crop growth slows oppurtunities for any remaining autumn/winter Atlantis applications will be rare.  However, applications made in December and January have worked well after a spell of mild weather, i.e. after a long enough period to encourage plant growth (keep watching the lawn).

Aphid flight has only recently declined so outstanding straight aphid treatments on cereals or in rapeseed tank mixes may still be worthwhile.  For example later drilled wheat crops which were green before mid November should still be treated to control established colonies which could survive a mild winter.

In rapeseed cooling soil conditions are ideal for the completion of propyzamide (e.g. Kerb Flo) and carbetamide (e.g. Crawler) applications.  These residuals work best in moist soils which hold the active in the top few centimeters of soil where the weeds are  germinating. 

Blackgrass control in wheat has got off to a bad start in many areas.  The worst situations are first wheats following oilseed rape where blackgrass control in the rape crop was incomplete. 

Subsequent management has been undermined by the weather - most notably the lack of rainfall to stimulate emergence in stale seedbeds followed by poor activity from residual herbicides applied to dry seedbeds. 

Although moisture has since activated the residuals it has also encouraged a rapid flush of blackgrass which has grown away from the herbicides at 1 to 3 leaves - in some cases at very high populations. 

Broad-leaved weeds have also survived most notably cranesbill.  Atlantis/Horus applications have been pending for the last 2 or 3 weeks but with little opportunity for application as the weather has been so wet and windy.