Crop Watch: Pre-em sprays struggle in dry East and T2s in barley – Farmers Weekly

After a March of virtually no rain, the beginning of April started with little prospect of any on its way, but as the month progressed and after constantly checking weather apps to find the forecast you liked, rain eventually arrived.

Good rain, generally. Some areas of Devon and Cornwall received up to 90mm.

For many crops, this was hugely welcome, and with fertiliser applications kicking in, crops have started to move.

Most winter barley crops have received their T1 fungicide application, and after holding my nerve, also a robust growth regulator programme.

Disease levels are acceptable, but rynchosporium is lurking about in some.

T2 fungicide applications aren’t far away as barleys approach awns tipping stage – with many starting to look quite promising.

Winter wheat crops have been getting T1 programmes applied of late. The rain coincided with this timing, and some are being applied late enough with leaf three well out.

You don’t have to look far for disease in the bottom of earlier drilled crops, and with septoria being the number one enemy in the South West using the best fungicide available at robust rates is important.

Many of the earlier drilled spring barley crops have now emerged and are tillering, with some T1 programmes pending.

Others will need walking over the next week or so.

With warm conditions forecast they will start jumping forward along with plenty of weeds.

Pre-emergence herbicides have worked well, where used in spring barley and eased early weed pressure.

While some maize was planted pre-Easter, most is getting drilled now and over the next few weeks.

Perfect conditions really, with plenty of soil moisture and rising temperatures, maize shouldn’t take long to emerge.

Nearly all my acreage will have a pre-emergence herbicide, which allows the maize to grow away competition free, knocks out some of the more problematic weeds for post emergence control, and also insures against the weather getting wet around the three- to four-leaf stage of the crop and preventing travelling through the crop to tackle weeds.

Most will get some form of post-emergence weed control, but can be more targeted.

With the forecast set fair, crops are setting themselves up nicely and with good windows for input applications there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.