Higher temperatures at times over the past week have helped to move crops on a bit. I was in crops in south Kildare earlier this week, where I found winter wheat to be between GS32 and third-last leaf emerged, but generally not yet fully unfolded.

Winter barley was generally between GS32 and GS39 and winter oats was a strong GS32. Spring barley was at GS11 to 13 and I saw a few fields that may be fallow.

There are a lot of winter wheat crops in the area. The first crop I walked into seemed to have suffered recent stress. This crop was at GS32 with the third-last leaf over half emerged.

It was also noticeably thin despite what looked to be a good plant population. The majority of the lower leaves were gone and leaf five was about 50% yellow. And it looked like about one tiller per plant.

It could be that this crop was hungry in early spring and that a spray caused the leaf damage. There was little or no septoria evident.

Two other wheat crops I visited were nice and even, with virtually all the leaves present and a little septoria. Many stems on these crops had their third-last leaf emerged, but not unfolded.

The last crop of wheat I visited was either direct drilled or min-tilled. It was a bit variable in density, with some ongoing slug damage and these may also be responsible for the few bare patches present.

There was a good bit of visible septoria in this crop, but it looked particularly healthy and full. This was GS32/33, with the third-last leaf fully emerged on some plants, but not yet unfolded.

Winter barley

The first crop I walked into was clean enough disease-wise, but there was quite a bit of black flecking on the leaves and there was probably a bit of BYDV on individual plants.

The density of this crop was variable but the crop looked healthy and clean.

The next crop was at various stages of flag leaf emergence, with some fully emerged. This crop had a lot of half-yellow leaves, which were more likely a consequence of spray damage.

Crop density was good and it looked well. There were a few bits of eyespot and rhyncho present.

Another crop of winter barley had non-inversion establishment and it looked really healthy. It looked like it was following a legume in that plants were all heavily tillered but it had straw on the surface.

The plant leaves were remarkably clean to the ground, with virtually all the leaves still green and free of disease. There was a little stress-related black spotting present, but much less than in other crops.

It had two or three nodes present and it looked like it was rearing to go once temperatures pick up.

Spring barley

Most spring barley crops were emerged, with one leaf unfolded and the second almost unfolded and the third coming through.

Some crops had a few tillers and one crop suffered a bit of leather-jacket damage. Another crop appeared to have a lot of leaves caught in the soil during emergence. Many leaves had a purple tinge from the recent cold.

Weeds were also emerging with speedwell, red deadnettle and annual meadowgrass present.

Oilseed rape

Winter rape is only coming into flower and crops were quite variable, depending on the degree of pigeon grazing.

Flower heads seemed fully formed and healthy, but I did notice some pollen beetle. The lateness of flowering would mean that these now need to be watched.