Tillage Management: rain welcomed, but weeds and disease need to be tackled

Workload: it’s been a showery week and the rain was welcomed by many farmers and crops.

Weeds will now be well up in most cereal crops and should be tackled. The rain will also have provided an ideal environment for disease to develop so fungicide will be needed where crops have not yet received it.

Spring cereals: crops at mid-tillering should receive a fungicide. Something simple like Proline and Comet or a one can mix like Delaro Forte or Mandarin. Later-sown crops receiving herbicide in the coming days could receive fungicide now as they are likely to push through the growth stages quickly enough so this might save you a run of the sprayer.

Those later-sown crops should receive an aphicide if they haven’t already. Aphicide can be applied up to growth stage 30, but is more beneficial in the early stages of growth. There is no benefit to applying two aphicides, but a second may harm more natural predators so this would not be a good thing.

Any crops that are thin or patchy might benefit from an application of CeCeCe. If you applied a hormonal herbicide with the weed spray and want to apply Axial Pro to a crop, remember you need to wait three weeks between applications. Axial Pro will tackle wild oats, Italian ryegrass and canary grass. However, a higher rate is needed for Italian ryegrass and canary grass. As the crop gets bigger that rate increases from 0.6l/ha to 0.82l/ha.

Nutrient deficiencies likely need to be tackled again in spring crops, so include the appropriate nutrient where needed. The cold weather has been causing stress on crops so some might benefit from a bio-stimulant or a mix of nutrients.

Be careful with big tank mixes in spring crops at present. Watch temperatures when applying growth regulator or Axial Pro or both. Stress now can cause ramularia later on.

Beet: the rain showers will have been welcomed by beet growers. Most crops will have received the first split of herbicide, but will need the second split soon enough.

Chat to your agronomist and include adjuvants where appropriate. Include a graminicide where grass weeds are an issue. Falcon, Fusilade Max and Stratos Ultra are all options. Watch out for Mangold Fly and apply an insecticide where needed.

Protein crops: a graminicide should also be applied to protein crops in the coming weeks. If you think products like Axial are decreasing in efficacy on your farm then you might move to a product like Stratos Ultra as it is a different type of active ingredient to Axial and Facon.

Straw: I had some queries on the Straw Incorporation Measure. Farmers will now have entered the straw into the SIM, but can pull parcels out of the measure if they find a buyer for that straw by emailing the Department.

You can still make amendments to your BISS applications at present for anyone who had not completed sowing while filling it out.