A welcome break

The weekend and the first few days of this week provided a welcome break to get combines going again. There has been a lot of progress in recent days and the forecast seems promising for the coming week to help get things wrapped up. A few growers are finished cereals. Parts of fields had to be left in some areas due to wet ground, but this has since dried.

Storm-related damage has been variable to very severe in some fields. Crop losses appear to vary with location, stage of ripeness, variety characteristics and the severity of the wind. Losses of up to 20% are common, with some as high as 50%. Compaction and bogging were issues too.

There is still an amount of work to be done, especially across much of the northern half of the country. Many growers experienced tough going in lodged and broken down crops of spring barley and oats. Grain quality was affected by the wet weather, but it is still good enough to give good quality grain post-drying.

Oilseed rape

With temperatures set to rise and dry conditions to return, there is still time to get winter rape planted. Growers in the northeast have always been willing to plant up to 10 September, with many further south willing to continue until mid-September. However, it may be wise to put a little basic fertiliser under crops with later planting to help drive some additional backend growth. Consider about 20kg N/ha along with some P and K. It remains important to get as much autumn growth as possible to help avoid other problems.

As well as having potentially good margins, rape also brings other rotational advantages from being a good break for the following few years. Where this crop is to be planted after a cereal just harvested, you can expect to get an amount of volunteer cereal coming though, especially where there was an amount of grain shedding or head losses. This will mean specific graminicides once a flush of grass-type weeds become visible.

Seed rates should still be around 25-30 seeds/m2 for hybrids but up to 75-80 seeds/m2 for conventional varieties, except where poor establishment is expected. Anyone with a big area of rape should try some of the new varieties with TuYV resistance to judge the benefit. The varieties with this trait include Ambassador, Artemis, and Aurelia but there is relatively little seed available.

Stubbles

With some stubbles now cleared, these should be lightly cultivated to encourage weed seed growth and the germination of volunteer cereal seeds. This might be done in damp conditions when harvesting or straw are not possible. If you can cultivate in a dry time and leave the soil lose or ridged, you can significantly knock back slug numbers for next year. Desiccating this year’s eggs will significantly reduce slug numbers next year. These actions become more effective where they can be done every year. This investment in metal, diesel and time pays well over time.