Crop Watch: Yellow rust plague in North and OSR pod sealants – Farmers Weekly

The rain in late May and the scattered showers last week have slightly restored some optimism in the potential of this year’s harvest, with the region certainly looking much better for it.

Final T3 fungicide applications, where required, have been completed. These have been focused around tebuconazole, prothioconazole and azoxystrobin, to cover fusarium and top up yellow and brown rust protection. With the crops having their feet in some moisture now, this will help with the all-important grain fill, and encourage take-up of final nitrogen applications to boost milling quality.

Oilseed rape has now finished flowering. Hard work in the spring, chasing incredibly determined pigeons, has paid dividends and there are some very handsome looking crops about. The canopies of these crops are deep and the number of pods setting is encouraging. Pod sealant applications, if utilised, want to be applied before the pre-harvest desiccant while the crop is still malleable, to minimise crop damage.

Pea crops across the region have hit the ground running and the tendrils are now well knitted together. Flowering has started and some earlier crops have set their first pods. The first fungicide applications are applied or will be very soon. Benzovindiflupyr and prothioconazole provide very good protection from disease and this will be in a programme with an azole and a strobilurin. Nutrition in peas is crucial, with manganese and magnesium both featuring in each fungicide application.

Aphids can be found relatively easily and should be treated accordingly – growers should consider the best time of day for application of insecticides to flowering crops, to minimise damage to beneficials.

Monitoring of pea moth traps will indicate if a different mode of action is required. Winter beans will be receiving their second fungicide and nutrition application, which will include much the same chemistry as the pea crops. Black bean aphid can be found on headlands, but I am yet to see these stray into the middle of fields and pose too much of a threat, Ongoing monitoring of these will be necessary.

My final crop to go in the ground for harvest 2025 is pumpkins, which have been planted as modules this year – a change from previous years where seeds were drilled. Weed control in pumpkins is challenging where fat hen is present, and by utilising modules we have been able to delay drilling and prolong the stale seed-bed.