Rain was welcome: Most tillage farmers welcomed the rain over the past week but for some it was still very little. Met Éireann records indicate that May rainfall for most tillage regions ranged from one-third to half the normal monthly rainfall level up to Wednesday. While patches are not yet visible in crops, there was a risk that these would begin to appear.

Winter cereals: Most crops have remained quite clean but the usual diseases are still present. Mildew is evident in all cereals but contained in most crops. Septoria levels in wheat range from moderate to high. The two main rust diseases, yellow and crown, seem to be well contained. Rhyncho and net blotch are evident in some barley crops but good fungicide treatments have worked well.

Winter barley is now headed to grain fill. Many crops show a level of brown spotting on leaves but it is difficult to know whether this is the start of ramularia or just some type of pollen stain or other sensitivity reaction.

Winter oats is now at various stages of heading out and final sprays should be applied once the ears have emerged. Most crops have clean foliage but some have a lot of blotching on lower leaves arising from previous mildew or crown rust infection.

All wheat crops should now have flag leaves fully emerged and the T2 fungicide applied. Earlier crops and early varieties range between the start of ear emergence and heads fully out. This means that some crops will be getting their T3 or head spray shortly. While septoria levels may not look threatening in many crops, it is difficult to ignore the risk posed by ear blight, which tends to be a major focus of the T3 spray. Spray options include products such as Prosaro, Gleam, Magnello etc. See more information on Focus pages.

Spring crops: Spring growth has been good but crops seem a bit irregular density-wise. Spring barley crops seem to range from mid-tillering to flag leaf emerging and anything with two nodes present is likely to show its flag leaf very shortly. Wheat and oats are mainly in stem extension.

Earlier barley crops have received a first fungicide and most crops seem clean. However, some spring barley crops already have significant infection of net blotch and rhyncho, plus some mildew. So crops can get infected if they are not adequately protected.

First fungicides should go on at the end of tillering with a second at awns emerging. For those yet to fungicide all sprays should include a triazole with either a strobilurin or an SDHI active.

This can be one of many premixes like Siltra, Ceriax, Zephyr, Bontima, Elatus Era, Vareon, Skyway etc. Straights can also be used providing one uses a sensible mixture. Watch out for mildew infection.

Crops that are very dense at early stem extension might get a growth regulator if they feel weak and soft. Options include Moddus plus CCC, depending on timing, or Medax Max (+/- CCC).