Farmer Focus: Good progress in a surprisingly smooth autumn
Mark Stubbs © Phil Weedon This autumn has been one of the easiest I can remember. I began drilling on 7 October, about three weeks earlier than usual.
It would have been even earlier, but I had the pleasure of attending the Farmers Weekly Awards, thanks to an invitation from FMC.
It was a fantastic evening, and if you are a regular reader you’ll have seen the coverage about three weeks ago.
See also:Â High insect activity increases BYDV risk in mild autumn
About the author
Thanks to an excellent flush of blackgrass, I’ve opted to grow several high-yielding wheat varieties this season: Champion, Dawsum, Skyscraper, Beowulf, Bamford, Arnie and Scope.
I’ve also decided to reintroduce oilseed rape into the rotation, choosing the record-breaking variety Avenger, which was successfully grown just 10 miles away on similar soil.
Encouraged by Avenger’s performance, I’ve set up an oilseed rape trial using Bionature’s crop nutrition programme.
Half the field has received an autumn application of 2.5 litres/ha of DeltaK and 2 litres/ha of Leodita.
I’ve always been sceptical of these programmes, but this one helped produce a world-record crop, so I’m keen to see how it performs.
So far, the results look promising, with noticeable acceleration in plant growth.
For winter wheat, I’m running several tramline trials focused on blackgrass control. Each trial compares different chemical combinations:
- Trial 1 Fundartis (isoflex + bexlubutamide @ 1 litre/ha) with Cougar (bromoxynil + diflufenican @ 0.6 litres/ha)
- Trial 2 Sovorna (cinmethylin + picolinafen @ 1.25 litres/ha) with Cougar as above
- Trial 3 Mateno Star (aclonifen + diflufenican + pyroxasulfone @ 1.85 litres/ha)
- Trial 4 Bandur (aclonifen + flufenacet @ 1.4 litres/ha) with Cougar @ 0.6 litres/ha
My wheat is just beginning to emerge, and the early signs are encouraging.
I’ll be reporting back on the results in my next column, once we can properly assess the performance of each approach.
