We are now in a dry spell and the cold nights have slowed growth. Winter wheat crops are full of potential, and the coming weeks will be critical to deliver the high yields.

Both rye and winter oats are showing higher levels of disease than in average years and pea and bean weevils have proven troublesome in some bean crops.

East

Ben Pledger

Farmacy (Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire)

The weather pattern for this spring in the region seems to be mirroring last year, as we’re now in a dry spell, with (as I write) little to no rain in the forecast for the next fortnight.

Spring drilling has gone relatively well, with most growers keeping last year in mind, and managing to conserve moisture to allow for good even emergence.

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Late March’s cold nights and the lack of rain to wash fertiliser in has made for later development of some winter crops.

Some winter barleys have barely stood up, and T0 fungicide timing on winter wheat has only just been reached on a good proportion of the crop.

Winter oats are now wanting their first plant growth regulator (PGR), and with this dry spell in mind, PGRs, fungicides and herbicides will all be split out into separate passes to reduce the stress to the crop.

Prohexadione + trinexapac will be used for the PGR, and a tebuconazole + azoxystrobin tank mix will be applied a week later as the first fungicide.

Broad-leaved weeds

The drier conditions haven’t seen a lot of broad-leaved weeds emerging yet, so herbicides will be kept in the can for the moment.

The yellow-rust-prone varieties of winter wheat, such as Zyatt and Skyfall, have seen it come into the crop. This has been taken out with tebuconazole at T0, with the addition of azoxystrobin to protect going forward.

Although we are currently in more of a rust-favouring climate in the East, Septoria tritici is present in a lot of varieties, and if it becomes wetter, we could see this take off. If it does, it will be robustly controlled.

With the price of wheat being at an unprecedented high now, and fertiliser inputs costing significantly more than before, the relative difference to a gross margin with a robust fungicide strategy over an average one to protect yield will be less this year than in previous years. 

South

Tod Hunnisett

AICC (Sussex)

I’m writing this on Easter Monday morning. The sun is out, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful, and so are you, dear Pru…… (attributed to John Lennon). Fertiliser is going on, teenorts/teenortnahalf/teewuns (whatever you wish to call them) are being applied and, at the moment, it’s a wonderful world (attributed to Louis Armstrong).

Oilseed rape drilled at the correct time is now in full flower and mid-flower recommendations are going in/on. Later-drilled OSR (that which hasn’t failed) is struggling, with pigeons, swans, rabbits and deer bullying the backward plants.

The one crop I can’t get my head around this year is winter barley. It hasn’t enjoyed this winter, which is strange because it’s neither been particularly cold nor as wet as recent winters. Perhaps our August-saturated soil didn’t get it off to a good start.

Just getting its first fungicide as I write, I’ll probably be panicking in a fortnight because the boots will be splitting. At least, as yet, it’s relatively disease-free.

Spring drilling

Spring crops are largely drilled into ideal conditions, linseed and spring OSR going in this week. It’s still a bit chilly for maize just yet, but ground is being prepared.

I have some growers who insist on a pre-emergence in maize and some who adamantly refuse. I must admit I prefer the pre-emergence route, quite often a single pendimethalin is all is needed.

The fertiliser crisis is certainly focusing minds on the value of farmyard manure. I’ve never known people take sh*t so seriously before.

All in all, life’s feeling a lot better this time this year than it has done for a few years. Costs are up, but so are prices. Logistics are problematic, but with help from Crop Advisors buying group (without whom I would struggle to do my job), we are getting by.

All I can do now is dream of a white Christmas (attributed to Frank Sinatra).

North

David Martindale

Arable Alliance (Yorkshire)

The past month has largely been dry with large diurnal temperature changes over several days. The cold nights along with some chilly coastal winds has limited crop growth despite the warmer daytime temperatures. 

Rain will soon be welcome across all crops, especially those sown this spring, some of which have not received any fresh moisture since they were sown. A spell of wet weather would also help to wash in fertiliser that has been applied in recent weeks.

As final nitrogen applications are being made to both winter and spring cereals, there are several discussions about whether to maximise output this season or reduce rates slightly and save some nitrogen fertiliser for next year’s crops.

Ultimately, this is a personal decision based on attitude to risk, as risk management is becoming ever more important.

Most winter wheat crops look to have good yield potential, although any wet or compacted areas are clearly visible now and will be limiting factors to grain output. Leaf three is beginning to emerge on earlier sown winter wheat crops, which means the T1 fungicide timing is approaching.

There are lots of Septoria tritici lesions on older leaves to provide a timely reminder not to be complacent when deciding T1 fungicide choices in these dry conditions.

Most T1 fungicides have protectant rather than eradicant activity against septoria so it’s important to keep the top three key yield-forming leaves clean.

Yellow rust is nicely under control due to good activity from the T0 fungicides helped along with some cold, frosty nights.

Some broad-leaved weeds, such as cleavers, fumitory, charlock and fat hen, have now emerged and are being controlled at the same time as the T1 fungicide.

Rapid growth

Winter barley crops are growing rapidly with flag leaves beginning to emerge on the earlier crops.

Late-season plant growth regulators will now be applied, the rates of which will be robust on six-row and hybrid varieties on fertile soil types. The same is true for winter rye crops, which are now growing very rapidly. 

Oilseed rape crops are looking well and are at the early to mid-flowering stage. Early podset has been affected by some frosts, however, the overall impact is expected to be very small with oilseed rape plants more than capable of compensating through additional flowers.

Fungicides to protect against sclerotinia infection are now beginning to be applied. No insecticides have been required so far as seed weevil numbers have been extremely low.

Spring cereals have established evenly as seeds were sown into moisture. Of all crops these would benefit the most from some rainfall. Manganese will be required on lighter soils from the three-leaf stage onwards.

Final nitrogen fertiliser applications are being made to spring barley crops, with those sown in April receiving all their nitrogen in the seed-bed.

Winter beans are just beginning to start flowering. Pea and bean weevils have proven troublesome on some fields yet on others there has been no damage.

This has also been the case for recently emerged spring beans where damage has been patchy.

It is the larvae of the pea and bean weevil that cause the most damage to spring beans, so controlling the adults is an indirect way of reducing egg laying and larval numbers.

West

Neil Potts

Matford Arable (Devon)

Since last writing, cold, dry weather has dominated. This in turn has led to slower growth, slow uptake of nitrogen and a degree of stress in some crops.

Winter OSR has been largely unaffected by this spell of weather and has pushed on very much as expected, with many crops looking the best they have for a number of years.

Good ground conditions mean that inputs have been applied at close to optimum timings, with the result that most crops are well structured with minimal or non-existent disease levels.

Winter barleys on the whole are looking good, but many crops have been subject to a bit of stress, manifesting itself as gingery-coloured leaf tips and new growth with abiotic spotting.

The dilemma has been how much plant growth regulator to apply as growth has been a bit slow, but as we all know winter barley can hit you with some remarkable “bounce back” growth, which can be very lush and very soft.

This means that crops that looked as safe as houses at growth stage 31 can look like severe lodging risks by GS 33 to 39.

With the relatively dry spell, T0 and T1 applications of fungicide appear to have done a good job at cleaning the crops up.

Wheat disease

Winter wheats are, on the whole, looking very promising, but with some very different levels of disease in them, depending on drilling date, variety, plant population and timings of first N applications.

At one end of the spectrum are septoria levels that look very challenging to crops, and at the other are those looking remarkably clean. Recent rain will certainly have been enough to kick-start fresh septoria infections, particularly in those crops where there is already a heavy inoculum load.

Winter oats, as often happens in a cold, dry spell, have in most cases been very slow to get going.

This spring there are much higher levels of mildew than we have seen for some years and once again Septoria avenae is very prevalent. This disease, while not recognised as a major problem, is becoming quite a big issue in oats most years in this part of the world.

The dry spell has meant a fairly uninterrupted spell for the planting of spring crops, with most cereals now in and emerged or emerging stage.

Fodder beet plantings have commenced and the impatient are now beginning to think about maize, although soil temperatures are still a touch on the cool side for this on many sites.