Farmer Focus: pH drops rapidly in wet winters
Andy Barr © MAG/Colin Miller I feel bad saying this after what some people around the world go through, but the rain finally arrived and we’ve planted oilseed rape and cover crops.
Previously, I had concluded we were better off just putting the covers in even if it was dry as, unlike the oilseed rape, they always seemed to grow, but this summer was exceptional.
We tried to do it as quickly and cheaply as possible by broadcasting the seed in front of a rapid shallow scratch with some crosscutter discs, which worked well last year.
However, the oilseed rape was direct drilled to try to lose even less moisture. I’m glad we have at least put it in as the alternatives don’t look too great at the moment, but we have a long way to go.
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Although we don’t farm a vast acreage, we do have many different soil types, and planting the rapeseed into the clay we have would have been more of a challenge, to put it politely.
In addition to the dryness and cracks, the pH seems to have dropped rapidly in the recent very wet winters. We even found, in a field over chalk that has always tested at about pH8, an acidic spur up through the middle when we tested down to hectare grids.
I’ve tried Limex again to help correct it and give some phosphate for establishment. Intriguingly, despite applying solid and foliar phosphate every year for ever, our grain nutrient tests still say this is low and the potassium is high, despite hardly having applied any for decades – ah, the complexities of soil.
Who knows what the weather has in store for us now?
I intend to plant barley yellow dwarf virus-resistant wheat on the sand earlier than I have for some years, and then weigh up the pros and cons of drilling dates on the clay.
Two years ago, waiting until a bit later for grassweed purposes meant the pre-emergence spray couldn’t be applied after the weather broke, which was worse.
