First dry spell sees early N on hungry crops – Farmers Weekly

Matford Arable

West – (Devon/Cornwall)

As we find ourselves in March (how did that happen so quickly?) we can at least say we haven’t had quite as much rain this winter as the previous three winters.

However, the drilling period was a challenge last autumn and walking crops during the past month has illustrated that challenge.

The first drilling period we had at the beginning of October was fleeting and resulted in some crops going into less-than-ideal seed- beds, and they then experienced significant rainfall for the remainder of the month. As a consequence of that, there are many fields with poorly established headlands and missing random patches in the field.

The next drilling window was in November – and what a relief when it came. This window allowed nearly all winter crops to be planted and, thankfully, into fair conditions and establishing reasonably well.

December was relatively kind, which meant that while establishment was slow, it at least generally established better than the October- drilled crops.

Many of the winter barley crops drilled in the autumn did get a pre-emergence herbicide application, while aphicide applications for barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) were hit and miss, depending on weather and ground conditions. This was a worry for the October- drilled crops as aphid numbers in the South West, as indicated by the Rothamsted aphid report, were high running into October.

November crops managed to receive an application later in the month and into December, by which time aphid pressure was easing.

For those wheat crops that didn’t get a herbicide application in the autumn, there is a bit of catch-up going on now. This has presented an opportunity to apply a foliar phosphite to trigger root development, as any number of crops have backward root development.

Fertiliser applications have been made on some of the more backward crops, while many of the winter barley crops are now receiving their first nitrogen and sulphur.

Crop walking for TO applications on winter barley starts in earnest with the hope that March is a calm month on the weather front, and we can get on and manage the crops appropriately.