Part article from Farmers Guardian
Insufficient rooting is likely to put late drilled spring cereals under stress, according to agronomy business Agrovista, which believes foliar feeding will be necessary where soils conditions are poor.
Although mist spring cereals are planted, many have only been drilled in the last two-three weeks. With soil conditions challenging, these crops have struggled to develop an adequate rooting system, so there is a danger plants will not receive enough nutrients from soil to support early growth.
Chris Martin, Agrovista technical manager, says “This is particularly problematic in heavy soil, where water has failed to drain beneath the soil surface.
“Although seedbeds look fine on the surface, a couple of inches down they are puddle, wet and have poor structure.
“Seedbeds have effectively capped this wet, deep layer, so it is not going to dry out in a hurry.
“This is a pretty harsh environment for young roots. Crops are at risk of significant stress during the rapid growth likely to be associated with this warmer spell of weather during the rapid growth likely to be associated with this warmer spell of weather. I predict we will see May yellows soon.”
Foliar feeding late-drilled crops will help plants establish, says Mr Martin.
“Roots are going to be stunted and slow growing and will not be able to deliver sufficient nutrients from soil. We will need to feed leaves, rather than roots, to help these young plants.”
Sulphur, magnesium, manganese and potassium are among nutrients crops mat be short of this spring. However, advice is only to treat crops in response to tissue and soil analysis, as every field could differ.