Crop Watch: Dry weather prompts T2 fungicide queries – Farmers Weekly

It will be no surprise to report that here in the East conditions remain very dry as it is across the whole country.

I can’t write a farming column and not mention farmers’ favourite topic, the weather, especially rain.

Focus on wheats now surround T2 flag leaf fungicides, with disease pressure being so low that product choice and rates become a fine art to provide sufficient cover for when the weather breaks and getting the best return.

Septoria has a latent period of 360-day degrees. This means crops may look clean but could soon express disease symptoms.

The standout actives, in no particular order, would be: mefentrifluconazole, isoflucypram, fenpicoxamid and pydiflumetofen.

All are good products and will have a position at the T2 timing depending on variety and crop potential.

Weed control has been on the back burner for obvious reasons, however there are small weeds germinating in the base of most crops.

Growers should be aware of herbicide growth stage cut-offs and not get caught out with crops now moving fast.

Spring barley and oat crops have made a slow start but seem to be finding moisture from somewhere and are enjoying the sunshine.

There are various requirements for these crops and it’s tempting to try to tick off as many as possible in one tank. This should be strongly discouraged as the crops are very tender and will be stressed.

Splitting pesticide applications out into a sequence of two, maybe three, sprays will be beneficial.

Sugar beet is certainly causing a headache and growth stage is still varying hugely across the field due to soil type.

Heavy-land beet is growing nicely and has received two broad leaved weed herbicides, which have worked well and have given the opportunity to now target grassweeds.

Light-land beet is slower to go through the growth stages. There have been reports of aphids in the eastern counties, but numbers are still low and not yet at threshold.

Winter beans are getting their first fungicide and nutrition applications.

Benzovindiflupyr gives very good disease protection on beans but is limited to one application per crop, which in the current conditions may be better placed later in the growing season.

A combination of a triazole or a strobilurin plus nutrition may be enough at the moment to keep disease at bay and allow for better chemistry to be used at a later date.

Maize has been drilled into some good seed-beds, which surprisingly have retained moisture well.

Green rows can be seen from a distance and establishment is good, except where the rooks have pulled out the odd few seeds. Weed pressure is low, but I still expect them to appear.

Having recommendations written and chemicals on farm can allow growers to react when the time is right.