Monday management: opportunities this week for spring field work

The first half of this week will see the cold, dry and frosty weather continue through today (Monday) and Tuesday. This will present an opportunity for growers to make a start at spring planting, or catch up on other spring field work. However, it looks like rain is set to arrive later on Wednesday evening.

Planting

There was a small number of growers out last week and they’ve made a start at their spring planting campaign. Growers should try and get beans planted first, then spring wheat and then oats and malting barley. Where possible, put some P & K down the spout as this will always help early growth in an awkward season. For speed of drilling you might still apply much of the N, P and K into the seedbed for incorporation, while only putting a little down the spout to drive early growth.

A 9t/ha, a crop of spring barley or wheat needs 34kg P and 88kg K/ha where straw is removed on an Index 3 soil. Oats in the same field would need 34kg P and 130kg K/ha.

Weed control

Many winter crops around the country haven’t been sprayed due to the poor autumn and weed levels within fields remain varied.

Grass weed control in winter barley will be a challenge. While we would have targeted IPU in the past, one of the few options that remain now might be a Firebird DFF combination. Firebird can be applied until 31 March, or before GS 23. However, this is likely to have limited effect if weeds are strong.

We have a number of options for use on wheat, such as Alister Flex, Pacifica Plus, Picalo, Broadway Star etc.

Grass weeds will need to be targeted now and possibly come back at a later stage to tidy up. Annual meadow grass is still likely to be a potential problem in most fields. Where there are few or no weeds present, the pendimethalin may still be useful, particularly in mixes such as Flight.

Where there are lots of grass weeds and nothing has been done previously then products like Alister Flex might be considered.

Where you know you will have problems with sterile brome in winter wheat then Broadway Star becomes the option.

Winter crops

Regardless of P and K, all winter crops now need some nitrogen. This could be between 60kg and 140kg N/ha on winter rape (depending on canopy), about 60-70kg N/ha on winter barely, while 30-50kg N/ha will suffice on wheat or oats. Rates might be reduced slightly where organic manures were incorporated last backend.

Sulphur is important on worn land that has not received frequent manure or compost applications. This can be applied in single or multiple applications to put on over 30kg S/ha on rape and over 20kg S/ha on winter cereals.

Trace elements

Growers have been applying trace elements to winter crops over the last number of weeks. Ideally, trace elements should be applied during mild tillering and completed by the first node stage.

A soil test will indicate where treatment is required. Zinc, copper and manganese are the important trace elements for cereals.

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Monday management: fertiliser and bean planting still top of the agenda

Jobs become more urgent as time moves on