Crop growth

The continuing crop growth is adding to the death of patches as plants drown more easily when they are trying to grow.

The forecast indicates that warmer than normal temperatures are likely to continue. This would mean that plants in wet areas will remain under pressure to survive in the weeks ahead where the land remains wet.

The warmer temperatures also add to the risk of further aphid spread, but the heavy rain would suggest that overall virus pressure may be lower than last year.

Early sown oilseed rape crops continue to thrive and if the canopies remain intact there may be opportunities to save on N rate again next spring, as they are likely to be closer to the targeted 3.5 GAI canopy.

Slugs are quite active and must be watched in many fields.

There is an amount of net blotch present in some winter barley crops and on a lot of volunteers in stubbles.

Insecticide

The relative warmth may be helping crops but the high temperatures are inevitably helping aphids. So, the risk of virus infection remains real for the moment.

Ground conditions continue to keep sprayers out of many fields, but it might be best to delay spraying while the warm spell continues. The levels of yellowing on volunteers in stubbles would suggest that the virus is out there to be spread.

Some crops have already received one aphicide – hold any second treatment for a while longer. Choice of product should depend on the history of aphicide use in a field.

If you think you got poor results form a pyrethroid in the past, opt for one of the newer actives such as Sulfoxaflor (Transform). Also, use a different family for a second spray.

If you sprayed an early sown crop close to mid-October, that field will probably need to be sprayed again for aphids. But the general risk of virus in your area should also influence that decision. Low risk – ? High-risk – probably. Crops at the one-leaf stage now might normally not need an aphicide but the mild weather is pushing up that risk this year.

Herbicide

Deciding on trying to apply herbicide now is a bit of a dilemma. Tramlines will get damaged but the weeds keep getting bigger. It may be a little late for strong residuals but too early for purely contact products.

Some growers are considering Firebird or Flight plus either DFF or Defy but there are large areas of crop under pressure from the wet and sprays could make these even sicker.

Planting

Many growers still intend to get more planting done if weather and ground conditions permit. That’s a big dilemma, but the longer term forecast for the east of the country suggests relatively little rain for the next few weeks.

Any such decision must hinge around the individual field and how likely it is to result in a patchy crop if sown now. Obviously such a risk is lower on very free draining land.

Still, we need to think long and hard about planting a crop now that may end up very patchy. Such crops have limited yield capacity and that is not a great starting point when investing high levels of expensive inputs.