Weather: June was a very dry month across most of the country. This is resulting in patches dying off in some fields and leaves curling up in others. Rainfall amounts are generally low so far this year, which gives cause for concern as to when the balance of our average rainfall will arrive.

Parts of the south of the country had damp, muggy weather earlier this week, giving rise to concerns over possible fusarium infection in flowering spring barley crops.

There is some lodging evident in winter barley and later crops may still be targeted by hungry crows as the ground gets dry and hard. So take the necessary precautions, especially around lodged patches and crop edges, etc.

Weeds reappearing: Many crops that looked to be perfectly clean a few weeks ago, now have a lot of late weeds coming through. While there is a huge amount of sterile brome about again this year (this will continue unless action is taken to reduce seed and plant numbers between crops), I am more referring to the amount of wild oats, poppy and volunteer oats and rape that have come through in the past week or two. I have seen some totally red fields of poppy on my travels and as plants make seeds these problems will only get worse.

Where one is actively trying to reduce wild oat populations, the few wild oats plants (frequently surviving tillers from an incomplete kill) that survive should be rogued to minimise seed return. This will not be practical where numbers are excessive. I still see some fields where wild oat numbers are so high that it’s difficult to know what crop was planted.

Final sprays: Awns are now appearing on virtually all spring barley crops, so final fungicides should be applied. Make sure you are protected against rust – brown rust in particular. A final barley fungicide will tend to be an SDHI plus triazole combination, in conjunction with a contact for ramularia.

Final sprays on spring wheat should be applied at early flowering. This could be a second or a third spray and it could include a strobilurin or an SDHI active, as well as triazole and a contact. Contact fungicides remain an important ingredient as they seem to control a number of diseases which can trouble this crop in a wet season. And who knows what lies in store weather-wise. Final sprays must protect against rust and possibly against mildew.

Oilseed rape: Desiccation of early winter rape will begin shortly, but many crops are still a week or two away. The high temperatures may speed up maturation, but allow three weeks for the crop to die back. Use plenty of water (200 l/ha or more) to help get glyphosate down into the canopy but avoid big droplets. Good nozzle choice should help penetration.