A new guide that aims to help growers choose the best sowing date and seed rate for individual varieties, has been produced by Nickerson.

The ‘Sowing guide to winter wheat’ also provides an outline of the key agronomic characters for the firm’s entire wheat portfolio, which accounts for about 50% of the UK crop, it claims.

For the early September drilling slot, the guide highlights Exsept, Alchemy and Claire as suitable varieties, plus potentially the orange blossom midge resistant Gatsby.

Sowing Einstein and Solstice in the more conventional mid-September to early-October slot may give slightly higher protein levels, it says. For growers wanting to sow from early to late October onwards, it recommends Solstice, Xi19 and Istabraq.

Copies of the guide can be downloaded from www.nickerson.co.uk