The crop on camera looks clean and has potential to yield well if conditions are suitable for grain filling.

Looking at the barley heads in this field there was an average of 26 grains/head.

It was no harm to see rain this week to keep things greener for longer in the tillage fields.

The combination of sunshine and rain will be a big help for grain filling. Sunshine is key to producing a well-filled grain.

The rainfall came after flowering, so fusarium will hopefully not be a major problem in spring barley crops as this can reduce the chances of getting through malting standards.

The final fungicide of Decoy, Serpent and Arizona appears to be working well and the crop remains spotless so far.

Nutrition was also key to the agronomy programme with manganese dressed seed, foliar manganese early in the season and Epso Combitop at both fungicide timings to fulfil any deficiencies. This helps to reduce stress and, in turn, Ramularia levels on the crop.

  • Crop: spring barley
  • Variety: RGT Planet
  • Sowing date: 23 March

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