Winter wheat crops around England are carrying enough septoria to provide a significant threat to yield at present after inspection by independent disease experts on a recent helicopter tour.

The Bayer Crop Doctor helicopter visited trial sites in Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire to gauge disease pressure around the country ahead of the T1 fungicide timing.

See also: Helicopter crop tour finds little rust and mildew but septoria threatens

On board were independent plant pathologists Jonathan Blake of Adas and Fiona Burnett of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), who found that although rusts and mildew had been slowed by cold and dry weather, septoria was present in every variety across a range of drill dates.

Watch the video of the summary of their disease tour.