Weather: The weather has turned, but there have still been opportunities to get crops planted and harvested in recent days, although harvesting is becoming more difficult.

Straw is on the ground in some places, too, which will be a difficult job as there is rain forecast most days, but there looks to be drier weather for some in the second half of September.

Volunteers: The majority of oilseed rape crops are now in the ground, with a few people still planting, but really the cutoff is the middle of next week. Volunteers are quick to germinate in oilseed rape and in catch crops.

Get on top of those volunteers in the oilseed rape to make sure the crop gets off to its best start. Chat with your agronomist as different products control different weeds and rates and timings vary. Many graminicides do not have a label for catch crops, unless they are for forage, so options are limited.

Delay planting: Rye can be planted from mid-September onwards, but delay planting any other cereals. Only plant rye if you have a market for it. It is a good crop to put into a take-all risk slot. October is really the ideal time to start drilling winter cereals and you should move with barley yellow dwarf virus tolerant varieties first.

Order seed: While we don’t know when we will be planting, we must plan ahead and get seed ordered to secure varieties that suit your system or that you would like to grow. Check seed dressings as well. You may need Latitude if you are in a take-all risk situation or a nutrient-in-seed dressing.

Herbicides: As grass weeds become more of a challenge, the aim is to only plant winter cereals if you can spray a pre-emergence herbicide. Where grass weeds are an issue, pre-emergence gives the best control. Last week, Bayer launched a new herbicide called Mateno Duo. It is reported to give good control of annual meadow grass and helps to improve weed control when partnered with suitable products like flufenacet (up to 10 December) and pendimethalin.

Stubble cultivation: If you are stubble cultivating for weed control then you should not be tilling to a depth of more than 5cm. This is very hard to do, so try and till as little as possible. There was no requirement to cultivate stubbles for nitrates this year, but a green cover over winter is needed.

Feed: Some farmers have been asking what crops to plant to improve fodder reserves on their farms. Forage rye is a good option and is becoming more popular. A number of ‘From the Tramlines’ participants have planted it. Many graze it and make silage out of it. It is often left in place until April and the field can then be planted with a spring crop.

Ploughing: Call into the stand next week if you are heading to Tullamore. We will record the Tillage Podcast on stage at 11.45am on Tuesday with the Irish Farmers Journal team and at 2pm on Thursday with Bank of Ireland’s Eoin Lowry.