Depending on water availability, potato yields are either very good or very average – Arable Farming
Darryl Shailes talks root agronomy ...
We’ve been busy in the garden over the last few days. We leave an area down close to the marsh to grow, which isn’t mown during the spring or summer to encourage the wildflowers and wildlife and it’s full of various different wet marsh plants. Meadow sweet, which smells like Germolene and is a natural antiseptic, is the main species, but also ragged robin and a strange plant which is pollinated by water figwort wasps is abundant near the Driftway, the drain that links into the Waveney at the bottom of the garden.
Once a year we mow it down then rake it all together and burn it to prevent nutrients building up and the land becoming swamped with nettles.
We’ve also been busy picking plums and apples and trying to find a recipe for the abundance of large quinces we have this year. Just recently we have started to spot the young male pheasants change colour, as the brood we had earlier in the year matures.
The recent rain, we had about 20mm, has started to make the grass grow and we’ll need to cut it next week – the first time for a while. Generally where the rains have come crops are looking better, although it’s still very patchy, so I tend not to ask growers in case they’ve not fared too well.
The caterpillars of sugar beet moth beetle are causing a bit of a headache to the beet crop in many areas. Not normally a problem in the UK and even pretty sporadic in warmer parts of Europe, it is moving across East Anglia.
Crown damage
Easily identified by the frass in the top the crown of the beet, the caterpillar then burrows into the crown. It can cause issues with damaging the crown and affecting new leaf growth and in extreme cases induce fusarium later in the crop’s life. We don’t have any effective answers to manage it once it gets into the crown and the application of ineffective insecticides will do more harm than good.
If it is to become a frequent issue then, no doubt, we will have to adapt a cutworm- (also a moth caterpillar) type warning system to manage going forward. Apparently, like cutworm, it doesn’t like rain, so unless these extended periods of dry weather become more frequent, we may never see it as bad again.
Disease is still relatively low in most beet crops, with mildew and rust being the main issues and I’ve seen very little cercospora where there’s been no rain. With the factory openings delayed we need to keep a close eye on the crop.
Potatoes are interesting; depending on water availability the yields are either very good or very average, but so far bruising levels aren’t too bad considering the high dry matter. The only blight I’ve seen is at our trial site, but that’s been inoculated, however it’s still not romping away.
There’s quite a bit of secondary growth and sprouting in the field even where maleic hydrazide has been applied so this may cause a problem into store where chits are knocked off providing an entry for disease, so care will be needed during the curing phase.
With crops already breaking dormancy in the field chitting in store earlier than normal can be expected, so the approval of 1,4 Sight (DMN) is welcome and along with the other treatments will help to manage the issue.
The high cost of electricity in cold storage may cause some growers to look at keeping the crop slightly warmer and using another means of managing chitting in store now that we have more cost-effective products available to us, but this will need careful thought and management.
I recently went to our local harvest service and the curate thanked agronomists for helping the farmers to grow their crops. Now there is a first.
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