Farmer Focus: November-drilled wheat is our best disease control
Richard Harris © Emily Fleur Things have perked up over the past few weeks in south Devon. Crops are certainly looking healthier after a few frosts and some much-needed sunshine.
Soil conditions have dried up quite well enough to get our first dose of nitrogen + sulphur fertiliser on.
This should push on the November-drilled second wheats nicely and get the tiller numbers we are needing.
See also: Agronomists advise T0 winter wheat spray to ward off rust
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The first wheats are naturally looking better. These crops followed linseed which has left more natural nutrients in the system, which in turn has carried the crop over winter nicely.
It is too early to tell what the disease pressure will be like as there are lots of unknown variables still to come.
What we do know is, November-drilled wheat is one of the best disease management strategies we have.
We’ve found drilling date is the most effective disease control tool in the armoury, with variety choice coming a close second.
This year we have some Mayflower in the ground alongside our variety blend to test out septoria tolerance on the farm.
This should provide us with an extra layer of protection for our high pressure area.
If successful, it will be added to the blend this autumn to bolster our defences against our main disease, septoria.
Third in the list is fungicides. They are still very much required in our system to optimise yield and quality.
It feels as if this year we are almost spoilt for choice, with four top-performing actives in our armoury to choose from.
All have performed well in the AHDB trials, so price will likely dictate which one we feel offers the most value for money and fundamentally, return on investment.
With our mild and often damp climate, septoria is the driver, with eyespot, mildew and fusarium following behind. We seem to avoid the brown and yellow rust outbreaks.
Our previous spring fungicide programmes did not let rust get going, so we hope for the same this season.
The sheep are finishing up the cover crops nicely. Again, it looks like the turnips will bolt in the final field before they get to them. We must start earlier next year.
