This is a subscriber-only article
Better weather
There has been relatively little activity in the fields over the past week because of unsettled weather. Ground is once again saturated in many parts due to higher than average rainfall for the time of year.
However, there are good signs that things will settle down over the weekend and into the early days of next week thanks to a high pressure system sticking close to Ireland.
As a result, there may be opportunities for field work once again and there’s no shortage of jobs to do. Temperatures are expected to be close to average in most areas over the week and the return of frosty weather may spell trouble for the 1,000 ac of potatoes left to be harvested.
Field work: There has been an amount of ploughing done on dry land this January. If land continues to soak there could be a good opportunity to get some ploughing done over the next week.
It is important that stubbles with a lot of strong growth be killed off as soon as possible before ploughing. Having the vegetation killed off makes it easier to plough or cultivate and should help prevent direct disease or aphid transfer.
Many winter cereals still require an initial herbicide application while many winter oilseed crops require a follow-up application. For those intending to use a Kerb-based herbicide on winter rape crops, the expected lower temperatures this week should help conditions suitable for this treatment. This includes Kerb Flo and Astrokerb.
Cropping decisions
It’s getting close to crunch time for spring cropping decisions. On page 34 we carry this year’s spring cereal recommended lists. If your spring crop area has increased this year, spreading your risk by growing a number of different varieties is sensible. Remember that yield isn’t everything when choosing varieties and get your seed orders in early. The same applies for spring beans.
Once conditions are good enough, winter wheat planting can take place until the end of January with little risk to vernalisation. Many more will go until mid-February and later.
Winter barley on the other hand generally isn’t a runner due to its reduced yield potential. At very least, we’ll need around 10,000ha of winter cereals to be planted this spring in order to take the pressure off spring seed demand.
There are some badly damaged and compacted soils out there this year as a result of poor planting or root crop harvesting conditions in 2019. Remember that for some, sowing a decent pan-busting cover crop mix in damaged fields or in patches of failed crops is always an option. In a year where spring barley markets are likely to be under pressure, carrying out some structural repair work on your soils for the season could prove beneficial.
This may be seen as the nuclear option for some and commercial realities won’t allow it for many so it may be a more realistic option to focus on the most severely damaged areas of fields such as headlands. This season may also be an opportunity to carry out land drainage works on those wet patches of fields where winter crops have failed.
SHARING OPTIONS: