Article taken from Arable Farming, July 2017, written by Chris Martin.
From an agronomist's point of view the gate is now pretty much shut in most fields until any pre-harvest operations, and it's now down to Mother Nature to see the crops through.
The exception to this could be aphids which have been increasing in numbers across the region and were at threshold levels in other parts of the country in early June. While it has been many years since we have needed a late aphicide in cereals, the warning signs are certainly there and crops will need monitoring closely.
The rain at the end of May came just in time to maintain the potential of all but the thinnest winter crops. As predicted, when the rain came it came with a vengeance and we had a month's worth of rainfall in 48 hours, which when combined with strong winds really battered crops. The standing power and growth regulation programmes, which in many cases were reduced due to the stressed conditions at the time they were applied, will now be severely tested.
Grass-weed control has not been quite as good as I thought earlier in spring and driving around the region crops look messier by the day as we go through June. Despite autumn residuals getting us off to a great start, the cool, dry spring meant the performance of the contact sulphonylurea products has been inconsistent.
There is a diminishing number of farms in the North East now which can claim to be fully clean of black-grass, with many experiencing small patches for the first time. It is vital we learn the lessons from other parts of the country and adopt a zero-tolerance policy to prevent a major issue across the region.
It is now a good time to map those problem grass-weed areas and start to prepare plans for future control. As well as increasing levels of black-grass, rye-grass and brome are also popping up in usual areas, despite good treatments and many will benefit from being destroyed prior to them setting viable seed.
Rye-grass for many in the region is as bad as blackgrass in other parts of the country, and it's clear now the days of relying on chemical control only have well and truly gone.
In Agrovista's rye-grass herbicide trial site near Darlington, County Durham, none of the 70 different chemical combination treatment programmes have provided satisfactory control, despite some costing well over £100 per hectare. The only good control has been where spring barley has been directly drilled into autumn-sown cover crops with minimal soil disturbance, the same theory which has consistently delivered the best results in Agrovista's resistant black-grass sites over the past few seasons.
The trial does highlight a change of cropping policy and a whole new mindset to farming is required if we are going to win the battle in some of these bad grass-weed fields. For the cover crop and direct drilled spring cropping to be successful, attention to detail and close working with your agronomist is key.
Oilseed rape is looking promising, albeit some crops have started to lodge which will have a significant yield impact through reducing seed fill and making harvesting trickier. Desiccation timing will be imminent now in forward crops.
In my experience, glyphosate only brings harvest forward by a matter of a few days over cutting direct, however the stems and rest of the plant are much less green making combining easier and the sample cleaner and this can be invaluable in difficult weather conditions. The addition of a pod sealant such as Companion Gold is also essential. It also acts as a water conditioner and drift retardant, which is imperative with the high boom heights required to achieve good desiccation of the OSR.
Agronomist facts
Chris Martin is a technical manager for Agrovista, based in the north east of England. His role is to provide technical advice to growers over an area extending from Lincolnshire to Scotland. Prior to this, he was an agronomist with the company for 15 years and continues to provide agronomy advice to a number of growers producing combinable crops in the Scotch Corner area.