From dry to wet

Land quickly moved from needing rain to being too wet in places, making spraying awkward when the rain stopped.

While crops are generally clean, it is inevitable that wet season diseases will begin to appear. Septoria has been reawakened across many parts of the south and it may be seen further north in the coming days.

The strange spring has also given rise to an issue with mangold fly on beet crops. The larvae of the fly mine into the leaves to leave blisters which have a pale silvery appearance.

Winter crops

It is likely that all wheat crops have received their T2 fungicide by now and so are OK for a few weeks. However, it is also likely that some septoria lesions will appear up in the canopy in the coming days even though fungicides have been applied. Yellow rust continues to be a threat in some crops. Where it is present, a morpholine should be used with the main actives to give a quick knockdown. It takes most other products a few days to get to grips with this explosive fungus so it will get much worse before it is stopped. A quick knock-down is generally advisable where it is quite active at the time of spraying.

Some wheat crops are now fully eared out and will soon be flowering. This will be T3 time but try and target mid-flowering rather than the start of flowering to maximise efficacy against the ear blight complex.

All barley crops should have received their final fungicide at this point. Keep an occasional eye on them in case rust or rhyncho get going.

Earlier winter oats are beginning to head out, which means it is time for the final fungicide. Once the panicle has emerged, spray with something like Elatus Era at 0.7-0.8 l/ha. There is little point in adding more cost to cold-damaged crops.

Spring crops

Growth has been good over the past few weeks and flag leaves are beginning to appear. Most crops remain virtually free of disease. But this could change quickly, given the recent showery weather, and rhyncho can already be found in some crops.

All spring barley might have been sprayed recently between late tillering and early stem extension and so should be OK for a week or two. Make sure to have a strong dose of folpet available for the final treatment.

Early oat crops are at the point of flag leaf emerging too, with later crops around GS32. That means growth regulation and possible fungicide. CCC, Ceraide or a Moddus/Medax Max plus CCC mix might be used according to lodging risk. A preventative fungicide might be as little as Proline alone or Helix if there was mildew present, but it would need a stronger partner if dealing with crown rust.

Straw incorporation amendments: If growers who applied to incorporate straw have since found sale for some of this, BPS applications need to be amended by 9 June and the relevant parcels removed from the scheme.