The wait for a dry spell of spring weather continues with the priority being on feeding hungry crops once spreaders can roll. Frustrations are also growing as rain keeps drills in the shed.

In the meantime, thoughts turn to disease control strategies in wheat after a mild winter with plenty of septoria in the South West and yellow rust in susceptible varieties in the North. 

See also: Wheat yield prompts fungicide shift on Nottinghamshire farm

South

Iain Richards
Agrii (Oxfordshire)

We may have had too much of it so far, but what we’re really concerned about now is the lack of moisture we’ll almost certainly be facing once it turns dry.

That, and another winter in which crops have hardly stopped growing, is why we’ve made sure to get good early top dressings on everything, taking advantage of every opportunity to travel. 

Nutrition remains the top priority for our later-autumn drilled wheats, as well as those only going in after Christmas.

While the mild winter has seen the crops suffering most from the early winter deluge recover remarkably well, they need plenty of rooting and tillering assistance. This is also true of the latest drillings, which have a long way to go.

Wheat T0s

We will be focusing T0s on a root-boosting combination of phosphite and early PGR alongside key micronutrients like zinc and manganese.

With low disease levels, we’ll also be making strategic use of the elicitor, Iodus (laminarin) in our septoria defences and looking at some of the other biosolutions which may have a place.

These will be going on a good week earlier than usual as the development clock is well and truly ticking.

It’s completely different for most of our wheats. Drilled before mid-October, they are well rooted and tillered, but showing plenty of septoria as well as yellow and brown rust in places.

Limited early fungicide options these days means our main emphasis here will be a holding action of tebuconazole co-formulated with bromuconazole at true T0 timing.

New chemistry does give us some useful extra T1 options. But, with economics as they are, the last thing we want is to have to pull any T1s forward and find we need T1.5s to fill the gap.

Our OSR is also looking pretty good considering how long it has sat with its feet wet. When the companions died back there seemed like a lot of space.

But, at 25-35 plants/sq m, most of our vigorous hybrids are well-structured as well as rooted, with huge collars and low levels of CSFB larvae.

Most crops are well into stem extension and our priority is making sure they branch well.

This means a timely application of a growth promoter/fungicide, Architect (mepiquat + prohexadine + pyraclostrobin), with the combination of molybdenum, boron and magnesium, that tissue testing shows is badly needed.

West

Neil Potts
Matford Arable (Devon)

In the South West I think we have fared better than many regions in the UK – in terms of crops planted and successful establishment – but the overall picture is still far from pretty.

The crops with the best establishment and soil conditions are generally those that were put in using non-inversion tillage techniques.

The plough and power harrow method has got the crops into the ground, but generally these fields are now much wetter and will take longer to be able to travel on.

Oilseed rape really did not enjoy the wet conditions and many crops have been left with very poor root development, although they are trying manfully to put on some root now.

Several crops I look after have spent a significant period of time under water and although there is still crop there, I cannot imagine that these areas are ever going to perform like they should.

Winter barley crops, on the whole, are looking OK (where they have established), but are now in desperate need of some nitrogen.

At the time of writing we have just had a prolonged dry spell – 48 hours without rain – and with a bit of luck, a lot of crops will now get their first dose of nitrogen if they haven’t already .

Barley disease

Rhynchosporium is not difficult to find in many crops, and we will soon need to turn our attention to early season crop protection inputs.

Winter wheat crops are all over the place, from poorly established and patchy to looking absolutely fantastic.

As ever in this part of the world, septoria is present in most crops already and the mild wet conditions we have been experiencing will have been cycling in the crops, building a head of disease pressure for future in the season.

I don’t think 2024 will be a season to not apply a T0.

With many winter crops not sown and spring seed in short supply, many farmers are wondering what to grow this spring.

Many appear to be opting for maize.

This can be a great crop to grow, but if you are planning to sell it, particularly for forage, ensure that you have a buyer and an agreed price before planting, otherwise you may find it difficult to dispose of at a profit.

Grain maize is another option for some, but brings with it the problems of later harvest and the need for drying.

I hope by the time I next contribute that the weather will be a bit more onside and spring work will be well underway.

North

David Martindale
Arable Alliance (Yorkshire)

With lots of drilling to do an early spring would have been desirable. Apart from some small pockets of lighter land sown with spring cereals, mid-March has arrived with drills remaining in the shed.

Between the frequent spells of rain, land has dried up just enough to allow some nitrogen and sulphur fertiliser to be applied. However, some heavy land has remained too wet to travel.

The cereals in these fields now look yellow and oilseed rape plants are stunted due to months of prolonged waterlogging.

For winter wheats, the crops range from really good (although there aren’t too many of those) to thin and patchy where the headlands have often failed.

Not surprisingly the earlier September sown wheat crops look the best. No doubt this will reinforce the rush to sow large areas early next autumn.

The mid-October sown wheats are struggling the most, and some difficult decisions have been made as to which areas to keep, abandon, leave fallow or to try and sow something else.

Plant density, soil conditions and the level of grassweeds present have been the main factors in making the decision.

However, in some cases, any of the options feel far from satisfactory, so difficult has been the season so far.

Pre-emergence herbicides applied to winter wheat crops have worked extremely well at controlling blackgrass and ryegrass.

Where no pre-emergence herbicides were applied or the timings have been compromised, these grassweeds have had chance to emerge and are now tillering.

Some spring contact acting herbicides will be applied in hope of some control. In other places, it will be a case of spraying off patches with glyphosate or perhaps using a weed wiper in the summer.

Wheat disease

Yellow rust can easily be found in susceptible wheat varieties such as Gleam and Skyfall.

A mild winter with very few frosts, some unseasonal spells of high temperatures of 12-13C and ample moisture has allowed this disease to develop. A robust T0 fungicide will be required where needed in the coming weeks.

Winter barley crops seem to have fared better than their winter wheat counterparts due to them being mostly sown in the earlier drilling window.

Manganese deficiency has been very evident and it has been frustrating to see areas deteriorate due to land remaining too wet for the manganese to be applied.

Disease levels are quite high, with plenty of net blotch and brown rust present along with some mildew owing to the mild conditions over the past few months.

The significantly reduced area of oilseed rape continues to frustrate.

Pigeons have largely shredded most of the remaining fields to the point where it is worth stopping to appreciate a full field of oilseed rape that is growing well and looking unscathed.

Like winter wheat, weed control is variable depending on what herbicides were applied in the autumn. Weed control is good where the full programme was applied, and more variable where some herbicides were missed.

Now there are only limited herbicide options available so key weeds such as mayweed, thistles and cranesbill can be controlled while accepting other weeds will remain.

East

Ben Pledger
Farmacy (Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire)

Dare I say it, but things are looking like they are beginning to slowly dry out in the region.

Careful planning of the order of operations and tasks when it dries out is needed before it’s all hands on deck, and labour and machinery is being pulled in many directions at once.

Talking to some growers there is a reluctance to put nitrogen on until the whole field will travel. This is a false economy, starving the good bits of fields to wait for the poor, wet bits to travel.

A percentage of fields won’t look pretty come May and June, but securing as much yield as possible along the way will, hopefully, make up for the bits we wish were a lot better.

There is a good place here for variable rate nutrition to keep input costs optimal on different parts of the field.

Conversely, patience will be needed before preparing spring seed-beds to ensure that spring crops get off to a good start, rather than mauling in crops only to spend the rest of the spring on the back foot with regard to plant populations and poor rooting brought on by poor seed-beds.

Spring crops

With crop prices sitting where they are now, crops yet to be drilled will need to establish well to ensure the best margins are possible.

Where acceptable margins cannot be guaranteed, we need to weigh up the other options of potentially fallowing and sorting out drainage, and/or planting a cover crop to structure soil, harvest energy from the sun and increase soil nutrients.

These options will come with a window to control blackgrass with glyphosate, as well as offering a good entry back into a first wheat.

Sustainable Farming Incentive applications have been discussed and planned over the last few months.

Among the options available, the scheme will provide an opportunity to take out lower yielding and loss-making areas of fields.

Where possible, these areas have been identified using cost of production maps to identify parts of fields which are consistently producing reduced or negative margins, pulling the farm average down.

Reducing the loss is a healthy way to increase margins.