Andrew Gloag's oilseed rape is nothing like as forward this autumn as it was (pictured above) two seasons ago. But the crop which was earlier giving concern at Busby House Farm, Stokesley, N Yorks, has recovered well, thanks mainly to recent rain and Nutriphite treatment.
"We've had some nice steady showers - about 1.5in this month," said Mr Gloag.
That helped the 30kg/ha (25 units/acre) of nitrogen applied at drilling to be taken up - albeit belatedly, he believed.
"The crop's still backward but it's a nice blue-green colour and we have some good plants. The populations are near the supposed optimum of 30-50/sq m depending on whether they're conventional or hybrids, and the great thing is that they are pretty evenly spaced."
Of the 506ha (1250 acres), split equally between the hybrids Excel and Excalibur and conventional Castille and Catana, only one small field has had to be abandoned, mainly because of pheasant damage.
"It was nine acres which we re-drilled with wheat."
Next week's planned treatment is a second application of Contrast fungicide against phoma plus Kerb to tackle grassweeds. Although at £37/ha (£15/acre) the latter seemed expensive, the cost was effectively spread over the three year rotation, he explained.
"It's our one chance to hit the brome and other grasses with different chemistry."
Despite spending three day at Germany's Agritechnica event he still didn't manage to see everything.
"It's a vast show, and you just can't get round it all," he said.
Having viewed masses of non-inversion tillage kit he remained convinced that his earlier choice of the Sumo Quatro had been correct. "I'm more than happy with it."
"But I was amazed at the scale of some of the trailers over there - they hold 25-30t and are triple-axled with power steering. It makes you wonder about the legality of them over here in the UK."