No early harvest: This time last year we were harvesting. This year there is still life in much of our winter barley and the return to low temperatures means that grain fill will continue slowly. Harvest is still a week or two away and for many people this could be into the last week in July.

Straw demand seems relatively strong based on the level of forward deals done. It looks like straw yield will be satisfactory to good and forward deals talk about prices of €20/4x4 round bale. For some that will be a poor price.

Crows: Slow-ripening barley means that crows continue to present a risk to crops but frequent rain and silage harvesting may be helping to relieve much of the seasonal pressure. Crops remain at risk until they are past the cheesy dough stage so make sure that the most vulnerable areas are protected. These include lodged patches, crop edges along by wire fences, thin or blank patches etc.

Final sprays: Even the latest crops of spring wheat and oats should now be ready for final sprays. These should cover against rusts in particular this year. Final sprays on oats might be Elatus Era or a tebuconazole plus Modem mix. And on wheat it will still be a double triazole for ear blight, so something like Prosaro (1l/ha) as the anthers appear.

Beans: This crop seems to be doing very well this year but many are very tall. The plus seems to be that most crops are carrying their pods reasonably high on the stem and clear of the ground. This is a huge plus for harvest and the risk of seed loss at the blade.

Aphids are now quite easily found in big numbers on a small proportion of stems close to the hedges. This is a very common occurrence and unlikely to warrant insecticide treatment. Single stems will normally be blackened by huge numbers which often occur above the highest filling pods. The fact that the infection level is generally low and that crops are very tall means that the damage and cost associated with spraying may be much bigger then the benefit.

Grass weeds: This has been a particularly bad year for grass weeds like sterile brome in many crops, not exclusively in min-till either. Where these occur it is important to ensure that you do not carry or pull seeds from a dirty to a clean field in a combine or baler. These things spread quickly enough without allowing machines to help the process. This may mean having to blow down your combine between fields and this should certainly be done with a contractor’s combine coming on to your land.

It is also important to make a mental note of where these problems are occurring so you can tackle these fields with stubble cultivation or by spring cropping or planting a break.

OSR: Desiccation is not too far away but avoid spraying too soon as crops are maturing slowly. Be sure to get as far as possible in to your crops to check the pods for their maturity levels.