As we approach harvest: A few weeks ago it looked like we could be set for an early start to the harvest. Now it looks like it will be normal at best and it could even be a few days later. Indeed it may be well into next week before there is any serious amount of winter barley ready for harvest, weather permitting, and some growers may not begin until August.

Many oat crops have also begun to turn. And while there is still a lot of life in the foliage, the fact that the little stems holding the grains on the panicle look dead on many spikelets may limit late season translocation of nutrients to help bolster grain quality.

Weedy crops: Many crops now look quite dirty as a range of broad-leaved (mainly poppy and cleavers) and grass weeds (wild oats, sterile and other bromes, canary grass, ryegrass, cocksfoot, timothy, rough-stalk meadowgrass, meadow foxtail and blackgrass) appear above the canopy.

Rogueing survivors is always beneficial but not always practical. Where pre-harvest glyphosate is used, try to cultivate stubbles post harvest as the treatment can help decrease dormancy to enable shed seeds to germinate.

Take-all is common: Driving around the country, it is obvious that take-all is a serious problem in some fields. Patches of pale plants and bleached heads are now very obvious in many non-first-wheat crops. Dead roots tell the tale. The appearance of these patches was accelerated by the hot dry spell a few weeks ago but the problem was ultimately precipitated by the prolonged wet in winter and early spring.

Lodging and crows: Recent rain and showers have caused an amount of patchy lodging and significant tossing in winter barley. This is most obvious in seed and nitrogen overlaps and under trees. Lodged spots provide another access point for crows and pigeons which are quite active. If you only have a few patches lodged consider erecting kites in some of them for protection.

Desiccation of OSR: While some winter oilseed rape crops may shortly be ready for desiccation with glyphosate, many others that were heavily grazed are still quite green and continue to fill their pods. Continue to watch your crops for a change from green to brown as you look across the top. That is a good signal to go sampling pods for the correct desiccation stage.

Use plenty water (200 l/ha or more) with up to 2.0 kg/ha of Roundup Powermax or 3–4 l/ha of other glyphosate formulations. Treat when at least 15 of the 20 pods have at least two-thirds of their seeds turned brown in each sample.

Aphids: Numbers appear to be low to zero in many crops but keep an eye out, especially on wheat. High aphid numbers on spring barley leaves may have little impact on yield but they can impact on the brightness of the straw.