Harvest difficulties continue: Many are now finished cutting grain but the challenges in the west and north west seem to have intensified. They did not get the string of dry days in recent weeks so there is still an amount of harvesting to be done. Straw is a real challenge in those regions. There is still quite a bit of grain to be cut in the north east also. At a guess we are now inside of the last 10% of cereal crops but some growers could still have 20-40% of their grain remaining to be harvested.

A quick look at Met Éireann monthly rainfall shows the nature of the problem. In general August rainfall amounts were well above average north of the Limerick Dublin line. This is added to be the fact that much of the rain in the south fell in the first half of the month while the second half of the month tended to be wettest in more northerly counties. Ground conditions are now a serious concern in places.

Straw: Straw is a challenge across much of the country due to the infrequent showers. While some fields are cleared, many still have bales present, some have bales and rows of straw while others still have all the straw in rows.

For most, the intention is to bale in the hope of better weather to come. For those who need to get fields cleared to plant catch crops or oilseed rape, physical removal may now be necessary. Tractor mounted choppers are an option but big rows of straw make uniform spread difficult and straw needs to be fairly dry to do a half decent job.

Some are considering taking straw off fields and putting it into a pit to compost it for spreading next year. My gut feeling is that chopping and spreading in situ might be better where one is trying to encourage earthworm activity.

Oilseed rape: There is still time to plant winter oilseed rape but it will now need some fertiliser to drive autumn growth. This should be put in the seedbed. Given August rainfall amounts and many high yields we are likely to have much lower levels of soil nitrogen available than this time last year. Consider about 20kg N/ha along with some P and K.

Where Katamaran Turbo is to be used for weed control it must be used either immediately after planting or post emergence. Do not apply as seedlings are emerging. This product needs to be applied before weeds are well emerged.

Keep an eye on emerging crops for signs of flea beetle.

Planting this week might use seed rates of around 35-38 seeds/m2 for hybrids and 70-80 seeds for conventional varieties. Ensure that soil pH is up around 6.8.

Cultivate stubbles: Conditions are not great for stubble cultivation as soil is often a bit too wet. However, conditions are great for germination and it is always good to grow out problem weeds.

Some cultivated stubbles have become very green – if possible cultivate these areas again to kill this vegetation and to encourage further germination. Do not leave oilseed rape volunteers in situ because they will encourage egg laying by slugs which could result in a serious problem.