I've just been out again looking for orange blossom midge, writes Peter Snell from North Farm, Horton, Dorset.
It was a calm, dry and cool evening and there were a few about but nowhere near the one in three threshold our feed wheats require to justify treatment. Anyway I'm reluctant to spray chlorpyrifos, and would need to be convinced by spider webs covered in midges and clouds of them rising from the wheat as you walk through. Meanwhile our Timber is already in flower and now safe.
We've started spraying T3s, and this year we're using Firefly (fluoxastrobin and prothioconazole) at 0.75 litre/ha. This will be three weeks since the T2s - Gemstone (epoxiconazole and pyraclostrobin) plus extra epoxiconazole (as Opus) at 0.8 and 0.4 litres/ha respectively.
Around some of the wheat headlands we've used Atlantis (iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium + mesosulfuron-methyl) and Biopower to control grassweeds - with mixed results.
Tipple spring barley has also recently had its T2 consisting of 0.25 litre/ha of Proline (prothioconazole) and 0.32 litre/ha of Comet 200 (pyraclostrobin).
We would probably have used Fandango (fluoxastrobin and prothioconazole) again but it was all sold out.
The Tipple looks good, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it yields and finding out the grain nitrogen, as two-thirds of its N has been supplied from compost. That's particularly topical given current fertiliser prices and availability!
Meanwhile the new grain store is coming on apace and we've also had one of the farm tracks rejuvenated with 750t of crushed concrete rolled down tightly.
North Farm's new grain store is coming on well.
We've just purchased our third second-hand Howard big baler which we will use for the wheat thatching straw and the new Amazone sprayer and fertiliser spreader should be with us soon for the new season.
Also, ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate for next year is starting to be delivered and sewage sludge is arriving for spreading on first wheat ground post harvest.
I'm looking forward to attending the Cereals event, where I want to catch up on new varieties, see some old friends, and investigate (well probably purchase) parallel guidance systems.
Recent rain has left the ground saturated. Until 25 May we had only 7mm in the month and were just beginning to think some moisture would be useful.
In the next five days we had 78mm and four days later another 25mm!
The chart below highlights the costly dry April of 2007 and the wet harvest that followed.
