'I had noticed that in recent years the amount of wild oats growing amongst the cereals has worsened considerably and wondered how this came to be happening.'
ADVERTISEMENT
DEAR EDITOR,
I am writing regarding the exclusive cover crops story in the issue dated 8 November. I have grown tillage crops since the early 1980s and I have hand-rogued the cereals for wild oats annually to try and keep on top of them without using additional chemicals.
When the children were young, they helped out over summers pulling up this curse of a weed from within barley, wheat and oat fields despite its many clever ways of eluding capture.
ADVERTISEMENT
I have been in every environmental scheme since they started and am currently in ACRES. This requires cover crop seed mixes to be sown after cereals are harvested.
I had noticed that in recent years the amount of wild oats growing amongst the cereals has worsened considerably and wondered how this came to be happening.
I was horrified when I read your article on cover crops that, instead of trying to keep crops free of wild oats, I quite possibly had been inadvertently sowing this very weed along with possibly other, even worse, invasive species such as blackgrass when I was sowing the cover crop mixes as stipulated by the ACRES scheme due to contamination of the seed.
It has left me downhearted and fearful of what problematic seed may have been unintentionally sown on land I worked for over 40 years.
Register for free to read this story and our free stories.
This content is available to digital subscribers and loyalty code users only. Sign in to your account, use the code or subscribe to get unlimited access.
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
CODE ACCEPTED
You have full access to the site until next Wednesday at 9pm.
CODE NOT VALID
Please try again or contact support.
DEAR EDITOR,
I am writing regarding the exclusive cover crops story in the issue dated 8 November. I have grown tillage crops since the early 1980s and I have hand-rogued the cereals for wild oats annually to try and keep on top of them without using additional chemicals.
When the children were young, they helped out over summers pulling up this curse of a weed from within barley, wheat and oat fields despite its many clever ways of eluding capture.
I have been in every environmental scheme since they started and am currently in ACRES. This requires cover crop seed mixes to be sown after cereals are harvested.
I had noticed that in recent years the amount of wild oats growing amongst the cereals has worsened considerably and wondered how this came to be happening.
I was horrified when I read your article on cover crops that, instead of trying to keep crops free of wild oats, I quite possibly had been inadvertently sowing this very weed along with possibly other, even worse, invasive species such as blackgrass when I was sowing the cover crop mixes as stipulated by the ACRES scheme due to contamination of the seed.
It has left me downhearted and fearful of what problematic seed may have been unintentionally sown on land I worked for over 40 years.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call us on 01-4199525.
Link sent to your email address
We have sent an email to your address. Please click on the link in this email to reset your password. If you can't find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you can't find the email, please call us on 01-4199525.
ENTER YOUR LOYALTY CODE:
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
SHARING OPTIONS