Dry but cold:

The continuation of the current dry spell has enabled a lot of work to be done over the past week. If land remains dry, it is possible that nutrient deficiency will show. If this happens, consider some form of multi-element enhancer. A pale plant does not grow to its potential.

Many areas are experiencing night frosts which could cause difficulty for some emerging crops. It is also a risk for winter cereals, especially crops being sprayed this week, so be careful with tank mixes as day/night temperature fluctuations can cause crop damage after spraying.

Planting: Complete any remaining planting as soon as possible. The lateness and cold could mean that crops will have a shortened tillering period so make sure you have fertiliser down in the seedbed to drive growth. Spring rape may be an option if you want a break crop and might have missed beans.

Earlier crops appear to be emerging well but there are issues with leather-jackets in places – roll well. There is evidence of BYDV infection in winter cereals, particularly winter barley across the country as a result of the mild winter and aphid numbers in unsprayed winter barley in Oakpark have been high for the first three weeks of April. Use a pyrethroid (Decis, Karate, Sitrine, Sumi Alpha etc) at full rate and this should be applied at the four-leaf stage.

Examine emerged beans for the presence of bean weevils. Early symptoms are the characteristic leaf notching which will be visible in headlands first. Once the symptoms are visible out in the field, spray with an approved pyrethroid, eg Karate, etc. Early control is the key.

Nitrogen:

Winter crops should have received the bulk of their nitrogen by now. Make use of the occasional showers to get it washed in. This is especially important for spring crops where N should be applied shortly after emergence.

Nutrients are only available to plant roots via soil moisture. This is why you see so many shades of green when conditions are dry as a result of transient major- and trace-element deficiency. Fluctuating temperatures can also cause paleness and blotching. It is possible that a shot of a multi-nutrient product or one of the EPSO products could help a crop under stress. Don’t wait for a problem to get bad before you act as yield potential is being lost.

Spraying:

Winter barley is coming to the latest stage for growth regulation so assess lodging risk based on variety, total nitrogen and previous growth regulation. The final fungicide timing of awn emergence on winter barley is approaching so include chlorothalonil plus triazole plus strob and/or SDHI. Some early sown winter wheat received its T1 fungicide last week at the third last leaf fully emerged timing but for the majority it is due this week. Use chlorothalonil plus an SDHI/Triazole (Adexar, Librax, Aviator, Ascra Xpro, Elatus Era, or Treoris plus triazole, etc.). Septoria is inevitably present but watch out for yellow rust and mildew as they will influence product choice if present.