Bill Harbour
Bill Harbour
Bill Harbour, last years
southern barometer farmer,
is manager for Gosmere
Farm Partners at 448ha
(1107-acre) Gosmere Farm,
Sheldwich, Faversham,
Kent. Crops include wheat,
barley, oilseed rape, peas
and beans plus
cherries under Countryside
Steward scheme
JUST when we thought we had caught up with the field work the wind blew for 10 days.
Before we knew it the flag leaf was out.
That forced us to put Terpal (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid + mepiquat chloride) on with the fungicide, rather than on its own. The result is a lot of mixing, some of which could be likened to the current mix and match of the car industry. The question is which mix is the Rolls Royce and which the BMW or the VW?
We have used either Opus (epoxiconazole) at 0.75 litres/ha, or Opus at 0.5 litres/ha + Amistar (azoxystrobin) at 0.5 litres/ha, or Folicur (tebuconazole) at 0.5 litres/ha + Amistar at 0.5 litres/ha, or Landmark (kresoxim-methyl) at 0.75 litres/ha.
Septoria is the main problem, with only a small amount of mildew on Regina barley and Mallacca wheat, justifying the addition of a morpholine.
The Punch beans have had 1.5 litres/ha of Bravo (chlorothalonil) and the peas will get Fortrol (cyanazine) at 0.3 litres/ha and Pulsar (bentazone + MCPB) at 3 litres/ha.
The oilseed rape has had Konker (carbendazim + vinclozolin) at 1.5 litres/ha with (pirimicarb) at 420gm/ha to control cabbage mealy aphids.
The Synergy has caused a bit of concern locally, bad pod set on the bottom of the main stem in the wet and cold April and possible due to drilling it too early.
Just to be sure I called CPB/ Twyford. Breeder Liz Williams came down to have a look and was not concerned, saying the plants will branch out and compensate well. The Pronto looks very good – massive stalks like broomsticks.
Our local Case IH dealer SCATS has decided to pull out of machinery, having come into east Kent no more than 10 years ago. I hope someone takes over the franchises and the staff. Our green dealership is 100 years old and the blue/brown one is 168 years old. Meanwhile, SCATS motto is "Working with farmers for farmers". *