Farmer Focus: Stressful times both for the crops and me

It has been a stressful time for both me and the crops. I sadly lost my 49-year-old best friend to a heart infection called endocarditis which led to sepsis.

For my crops the cold winds have stressed them badly. The wind is causing the leaves to rub against each other which is de-waxing their protective layer.

When chemical and liquid fertilisers are applied it is leaving a scorching effect on the leaf tips.

See also: How grower varies seed rates and N to lift whole-field output

About the author

Mark Stubbs

Mark Stubbs manages his 700ha family arable farm in Lincolnshire, in partnership with his parents. The farm grows wheat, malting barley, oilseed rape, linseed and cover crops. Mark won the highest yielding winter wheat crop in the 2024 YEN awards.

Read more articles by Mark Stubbs

This showed up initially after I applied my T0 fungicide for rust and septoria, which left the wheat looking yellow to light green colour.

When I followed up 10 days later with my first liquid nitrogen application this caused leaf tips to scorch a brown colour.

Fortunately, when I applied my second liquid fertiliser application at the end of March, it had warmed up. Instead of scorching, the wheat greened up and is now looking back to normal.

However, the early damaged leaves which are dying back are a haven for septoria, but the cold has kept the rust at bay.

With T1 approaching I must decide on which chemicals to use and how much to spend.

With the Iran war causing fuel to rocket in price, chemicals and fertiliser are going to follow suit soon.

But I have got good crops with high yield potential so I am not going to cut back on fungicides too much as more yield equals higher output income even at low wheat prices.

My agronomist has come up with four different options from high rust and low septoria pressures costing about £42/ha to high rust and high septoria pressures costing about £51/ha.

I think it is going to be a high septoria season on my farm due to my damaged leaves letting the disease set itself, so I will be choosing the more expensive option at £51/ha to protect my wheat plants throughout the season.

This chemical choice will be Poquet (fenpicoxamid) at 1 litre/ha and Velogy (benzovindiflupyr) at 0.5 litres/ha.

My advice is do what is right for you, but if you think you have got good yield potential then look after it.