Land is very variable: Land continues to soak, but some areas got well doused around last weekend and are back to square one again. In areas, drills are out on dry soil. There is a lot of ploughing done, but some land remains too wet. Most fields now need a spell of good drying weather.

Planting: Bean planting is ongoing in many areas where conditions are good enough. Watch sown crops for crows. Spring wheat planting is also underway. Some oats are going in and some farmers are considering malting barley on dry land. For spring cereals the condition of the soil below the seedbed is equally as important as the seedbed itself, because if this is damp it can prevent water percolation and cause subsequent crop damage – especially if there is a lot of rain following heavy machinery.

Target 300-350 seeds/m2 for wheat and oats, depending on soil conditions, and around 30-35 seeds/m2 for beans. Seed size is generally big from last harvest, so this needs to be kept in mind when finalising seed rates. Earlier planting will normally give more tillering, but one will have more control where crop composition is controlled by seed rate. This is especially important for malting barley.

While growers will be anxious to begin sowing in moderate conditions, the old saying that “well sown is half grown” remains equally, if not even more, true today. Last year reminded us that early planting is not essential for high yields, so why risk a portion of your crop just to have it planted. Working with nature remains a key element of good farming and it cannot be counteracted by horsepower.

Fertilizer is often a vexed question with early sowing. There will be little growth for quite a number of weeks so if you put N into the seedbed there is a danger that some of it could be lost before growth can take it up. Combine drilling P and K is certainly beneficial, but you could leave the N until post-emergence on early sown crops.

Spring nitrogen: There is no need to rush out with nitrogen onto winter wheat and oats unless the crop needs a kick-start. But even then you would not need much.

Barley and rape need earlier N to drive growth and prevent excessive dieback, but it is important to take current crop condition into consideration. Some early sown barley crops are very dense and a bit of hunger could be a useful tool to reduce lodging risk later. Rape crops that have a big canopy need much less spring N. Crops with a GAI of two currently would require about 120-130kg N/ha to drive the crop to GAI 3.5.

While winter barley needs N early (where the crop is not excessively thick), it is still early and there is a real risk of some N loss in future rain. If you need early N consider about 30kg soon with a bit more in early March. N is only needed where crops are growing and this is more likely towards the south at the moment.