Field work at last

The past week may not have provided excellent field conditions, but it did relieve some frustration. The largely dry week enabled work to be done, but many were working in conditions that were less than ideal.

The warmth last week also drove on winter crops. Late-planted winter crops are pushing towards stem extension, while earlier crops are well into that phase.

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Planting

The winter rain has left most land slow to dry and difficult to manage. Even land that ploughed up in good conditions became difficult. Seedbeds look less than ideal, even after rolling. The showers this week may help, providing they do not stop work.

Good tilling and rolling become even more important as land dries out. While we certainly do not want more rain, an odd shower might prove useful. Rapid drying out of land is likely to lead to micronutrient deficiencies and those limit yield early on where they occur. If this happens consider a multi-trace element product.

Complete planting as conditions permit. The lateness and cold could mean that crops will have a shortened tillering period, so make sure you have fertiliser down in the moist seedbed to drive early growth. Earlier-sown crops are emerging.

Aphids become a threat from now on, but numbers seem low due to the cold. Good, even and uniform establishment is important to help minimise BYDV pressure.

Nitrogen

Winter crops have quickly drifted into stem extension and beyond, so nitrogen is essential. Assuming that all the P, K and S has been applied, get the balance of the N applied before GS31 – first node visible.

Bring wheat in continuous cereal ground up to 175kg N/ha, with 150kg on ground following beans, rape, maize or where manures have been used in recent years. Bring winter barley up to 180kg N/ha and winter oats up to 145kg total. All total N rates can be increased by 20kg for every tonne that your recent historic crop yield exceeded the official reference yield for that crop.

Once spring crops emerge use the showers to wash in nitrogen top-dressing. It remains very important to get N, P and K into the seedbed ahead of or during sowing. It may be very useful to have more nitrogen than normal in the seedbed, given the season and the fear that a dry spell will come post emergence.

Spraying

What needs to be done depends on the crop growth stage. Some crops have PGR applied, others are only coming to that stage. All winter barley should now be sprayed at least once with fungicide – some have been sprayed twice. Early winter wheat crops are coming up to T1 timing – spray when the third last leaf is fully emerged.

Winter oat crops are generally around GS32, which is good timing for PGR. Options include Moddus plus CCC, Medax Max or Ceraide. Include a fungicide like Tocata, or a triazole plus strobilurin, with the growth regulator.