Its that time of year again,are we all happy with existing varieties or is there something appealing about the newer ones?

Hereward. £100 per tonne ex farm at the moment. Look no further.

We have been growing Hereward, Solstice, Rialto, and a Little Mallaca this year. and for next year are looking a possibly a little Einstein as well. Hope the Einstein seed doesn't come with free ergot, as last years solstice did, which was very disappointing considering the price we paid for it.

Look for DAFS on your seed labels instead of MAFF. Scottish grown seed crops will be free of blackgrass and ergot. Usually available a week to ten days behind Wilts/Hants seed growers.

And no seed levy to pay if you grow your own seed.

as a seed grower i would certainly try a little einstein it looks very good,they say its one of the best yielding 2nd wheats and its class 2,and its a better quality class2 than option which is loosing favour with the millers.robigus looks as if it will take over from claire, consort ,in soft wheat class .nothing much comming forward in terms of class 1 but some people say soltice will become class 1 and take over from mallaca, certain varieties do better on some farms than others so for milling i will stick with mallaca with alittle soissons ,last year 2nd wheat mallaca av 78 cwt full spec price £81 ,soissons 3.5t acre 3rd ,continous wheat full spec £95.

What yields are you getting with Hereward Ned?

Hereward is certainly the top potential yield but only if you get full spec and less than 25% do.

Agree Ergot is a problem for all seed crops and yes you are less likely to get it in northern seed because of the timing of wheat flowering and ergot sporulation. We wait to see if Solstice is more prone to ergot than others. However, 90%+ of ergot will be controlled if you use Sibutol or Baytan. As for new wheats - Einstein could sell out and seed is already £275 - 295. New varieties that look interesting are Cordiale - Gp2 from CPB good yields and better quality than Option and possibly Einstein but less than Solstice and secondly Gladiator a very high yielding Gp 4 with no real weaknesses. Both available at C2 in limited quantities this year. HGCA site has details on the candidate varieties.

Thanks for that Barry, which wheats do best in the second wheat slot in your opinion?

Consort is probably themost popular and is certainly pretty consistent. However, Napier has done very well in the past few years particularly on medium to heavy soils and Deben on the thinner soils. We have also found that Option is being used in the 2nd wheat slot quite successfully but not being managed for quality but just for yield which is the better bet.

Just adding to what Barry said as far as second wheats - Wizard is also worth considering has an 8 for eyespot (best on the list) bred from Consort with better and more extensible flour characteristics (better for export and domestic busicuitmaking) and much better straw characteristics than Deben, otherwise in the field it's very similar to Consort from a husbandary point of view (need to look after septoria y.rust nothing special) :)

Consort buggered with septoria and powdery mildew 10 acres of Robigus on endrigg has no problems visibly larger and more heads as well as holding its colour better. Local grain distillery happy to take it but will know more when harvested. However August sown Consort looks like it will yield well. Roll on harvest.

Thanks guys.I will probably grow Access and Solstice this autumn if they harvest well.