Weather window: Once again we are seeing very variable weather that is keeping growers off land in some areas while others are thinking of fertiliser and even planting.

With temperatures set to rise and a good breeze about, land can surprise in terms of how quickly it can dry out.

Ploughing continues and perhaps some of this might be sown immediately where conditions are good enough.

With temperatures rising, it is now more important to have some fertiliser applied to keep crops ticking over, especially rape and barley.

Planting: There will inevitably be some planting going on as land dries out. Beans should be the priority as long as conditions are good enough.

There are enough good price offers out there to help bean margins.

Spring wheat and oats will also benefit from early planting and malting barley growers will be pushing ahead on free-draining ground.

Beans: Should be the first priority. Target 35 to 40 seeds/m2 and try and get them down at least 10cm to protect them from hungry crows.

With 500g per 1,000 seeds, one would need to plant over 190kg/ha (12st/ac) to establish 30 plants/m2 with 80% establishment.

Strip-till drills can work well with beans in fertile fields, especially where the soil structure is good.

But fertility is important and it is essential to have pH close to 6.8 with Index 3 for P&K.

If beans are to be sown in low fertility fields (the pH must still be up at the target level) then fertiliser should be drilled down close to the seed, regardless of the planting system used.

Cereals: Next priorities will be spring wheat, oats and malting barley. Seedbeds are always important so don’t risk mucking in a crop (especially barley) – it costs too much to grow. Seed size then governs the weight to sow.

Plant wheat and oats around 350 seeds/m2. Use seed size to guide planting rate.

For malting barley, aim to establish 350 plants/m2 so you need to drill around 370-380/m2.

Where possible, put some P and K down with the seed at planting, especially where soil indices are low. Apply Growmax or granlime where pH is low.

If you can’t get the P and K down with the seed, it should at least be applied before sowing and incorporated. A 7t/ha crop of spring barley on Index 2 land requires 37kg P/ha and 95kg K/ha.

Spring nitrogen: It’s the time to think about spring fertiliser – N/P/K. Rape and barley are the highest priority.

All crops need sulphur, except where there has been a lot of organic manure applied over the years.

Sulphur can be easiest to apply in the first N application.

Where nitrogen loss risk is low, consider between 50kg and 70kg N/ha on winter barley, depending on rotation and the current state of the crop, and 30-50kg N/ha on winter wheat and oats.

Use the GAI to guide N rate on rape in order to control the amount of canopy growth produced.

This can vary between 60kg and 160kg N/ha based on current crop condition. It is also important to apply adequate P & K.