We started the year with an awful winter and early spring, but we are now leaving behind an exceedingly hot and dry May. The residing moisture is available for established autumn sown and early sown spring combinable crops (of which there are few).
A familiar tale of one extreme to the other: we started the year with an awful winter and early spring, but we are now leaving behind an exceedingly hot and dry May. The residing moisture is available for established autumn sown and early sown spring combinable crops (of which there are few). There doesn’t look to be many lazy rooting spring crops, but none the less a little flurry of rain has just kept everything establishing.
Wheat T2 is on the last leg of the run and crops are still all over the place, with the seasonal calendar unable to get things to an equilibrium due to the huge array of planting dates and poor early growing conditions. We’ve gone from exceptionally high Septoria pressure to low, and rates have been tuned accordingly.
Moisture for establishment is currently not an issue with potatoes that have been planted late, as it can be found around the seed tuber, and there’s plenty of energy left in there yet. Ridge moisture may reduce efficacy of the residual herbicides which we so majorly rely on, but with little moisture in the outermost part the ridge, weed emergence is also delayed. Product selection and rate is going to be geared around the half-life of the active ingredient as we strive for persistency for when the flushes come.
Beans have also been subject to the same dilemma, with residual herbicides not achieving the desired control. In instances where broad leaved weeds will become competitive, post-emergence products are being used. Be mindful of the narrow application window and potential for herbicide damage – these are best applied during the cooler part of the day if possible!
Despite most being late drilled, Maize is mostly up and away, and looking good with no cold snap to halter it. Post emergence herbicides are a little off yet, but I will be utilising other chemistry as terbuthylazine starts its phase out from the market.
