This week, we revisit growers from Wexford, Laois and Galway who are either close to finishing or have finished 2018 spring sowing. Winter crops are coming close to GS39 while the tramlines are now visible on the earlier-sown spring crops.

Julian Ashmore

Ballycarney, Co Wexford

There were around four days in April that you could seriously consider sowing in north Wexford, explains Julian. Broken weather throughout the month meant that even free-draining ground was slow to dry out. “It’s not as if we missed an opportunity to sow – the ground just hasn’t let anybody work.”

Around 90% of his ground was ploughed, with just the heaviest land left. The remainder will be ploughed and sowed together to ensure good seedbeds, explains Julian.

A number of very wet patches in fields will have to be left unsown this year as it will be too late by the time they dry out. In 2017, all the sowing was completed by 15 April but Julian only started to sow this spring on 21 April. He is currently around 80% through. Carefully picking the driest fields to sow first has been the story of the spring so far.

All ploughed ground is first disced with a 4.2m trailed Vaderstad carrier before being sown with a 4m trailed Vaderstad Spirit 400c drill pulled with a Fendt 820. All ground is then rolled with a 6.5m Vaderstad ring roller.

Changing cropping plans

Due to the late spring, Julian had to drop beans, wheat and oats from his cropping plan. With the three-crop rule derogation, Julian has opted to plant all spring barley.

“With a late season, spring barley is a safe crop to go with.”

Julian sowed his Planet spring malting barley, as well as his Gangway seed barley, at 180-190kg/ha. The remaining cropping area will be sown with Planet for feed. Seedbeds are good and the earliest sown barley is now visible. Julian thinks that crops may suffer a yield penalty and that BYDV could be a problem this year.

370-430kg/ha of 10:8:25+S was combine-drilled with the seed when sowing. As soon as tramlines are visible, Julian will apply 370kg/ha of SulCAN to bring the total N up to 145kg N/ha. He will cut this back a little bit for distilling crops.

“Even with reducing N levels for distilling crops, I think it’s going to be virtually impossible to meet the specifications for distilling.”

Eugene Ryan

Portlaoise, Co Laois

Weather has been mixed in Portlaoise over the past few weeks with good sowing conditions mostly falling on weekends. Rainfall amounts have generally been small and ground has dried out quite well, explains Eugene.

Spring ploughing was completed a number of weeks ago. Good progress has been made with spring sowing. This week, Eugene has completed all of his own sowing, with just a small amount of crops left to sow for customers. He is largely happy with the conditions which they were sowed into.

Eugene sowed his Planet barley at 180kg/ha, followed by the majority of his Olympus seed barley sown at 140kg/ha. Shortly after, he sowed Lumen oilseed rape at 3kg/ha. Eugene started growing spring oilseed rape after the sugar beet factory closed. The crop is a relatively consistent yielder and acts as a good break crop. All crops are sown with his 3m mounted Lemken Solitaire 9 drill with a John Deere 6150R.

Up to 370 kg/ha of 12:8:20+ S+Mn+Zn was broadcast on the surface before drilling, depending on soil tests. As Eugene uses a drag and drop press on his five-furrow Kverneland plough, this allows him to drill directly into ploughed ground. All ground is rolled after sowing.

Around 250kg/ha of 29:0:14 was applied after sowing and Eugene plans to apply nitrogen this week to bring the balance up to 150kg N/ha. Distilling crops will be capped at 105kg N/ha. Around one acre of ground will be left in fallow this year, as it still remains too wet for sowing.

Winter crops moving

His Carneval winter barley is progressing through the growth stages and is coming close to GS39. The crops received their T1 on 12 April and last weekend they received an application of Terpal (1.25l/ha).

The crop is spotlessly clean and, due to the shorter season, Eugene applied a holding spray of Kayak (0.85l/ha) and Bravo (1.0l/ha). He will apply the final fungicide in a couple of weeks when the awns are emerging.

“Spring crops have got off to a good start and are moving along well. I’m optimistic, despite the late start that crops will get along well.”

John Daly

Ballinasloe, Co Galway

Growers in the west have also been under pressure to get crops in the ground this spring. Good sowing weather in Galway only came in three real bursts, explains John.

John availed of every window he could to plough the ground, working in conditions which were not ideal. This was the right decision to make, however, as when good drying weather came, ploughed ground was the first to dry out.

The majority of the spring cereal ploughing was completed a number of weeks ago which paved the way for the drill. Meticulous planning was even more important this season. John explains how he had to organise discing, stone gathering, fertiliser spreading and seed tendering ahead of the drill in order to keep sowing without interruption. As a result, output was high.

Around 85% of the spring cereals were sown by 19 April. This came at a price, however, as John literally worked night and day to get this done as the threat of rain was never far away. The majority of his crops were sown with his Kverneland 3m mounted i-drill PRO drill, pulled with a Fendt 720.

Sticking to the plan

The cropping plan didn’t change. John sowed Irina, Planet and Gangway spring barley for feed at 190kg/ha and Husky oats at 185kg/ha. “I think oats could be scarce this year. A lot of growers have decided not to sow them”. Around 350kg/ha of 10:10:20 was applied on disced ground just before sowing. Spring crops have got off to a flying start, with emerged crops looking well but crows are an issue in some areas.

Around half of the ground was rolled and the remainder will be rolled as soon as conditions allow. All barley crops will be brought up to 150kg N/ha and oats to 125kg N/ha in one split using Sulfa CAN (26.5% N + 5% S) as soon as they are up.

“I’m optimistic about price. I can see from the feed side of things that prices are going up, I think there will be a lift in grain price. But we need a good growing season to make up for the time we’ve lost.”

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