June has been a wet month in all areas, but crops are standing well and continue to show potential. The countdown is now on until the winter barley harvest commences
Athy, Co Kildare
May was a dry month in Athy, with rainfall totalling 12mm. Crops were holding up well but Andrew feels that they were held back somewhat over the month. The first week of June was quick to compensate for May, however, with 30mm of rain falling last Tuesday. Crops appear to have responded very well to this.
Andrew recently installed two 10,000l water tanks to collect rainwater from his sheds for his sprayer. He calculates that 1mm of rain equates to 400l of water.
His winter barley is standing well but is quite tall. The patches affected by BYDV are thinner. Head lengths vary but overall, the crop appears to have good potential. He envisages that it won’t be a particularly early harvest.
Andrew’s winter wheat is in mid-flower and received a T3 head spray last week. There was an amount of mildew present in the lower canopy as well as low levels of septoria. His head spray consisted of Capalo (1l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) as well as Novasco seaweed extract (1l/ha), multi-mineral trace elements (1l/ha) and N16 (20l/ha). The N16 contains 16% nitrogen, which equates to 4kg N/ha as well as magnesium and calcium.
His winter oats have headed out and are currently flowering. The crop received a head spray when the head was half way out and consisted of Comet (0.8l/ha) and Corbel (0.6l/ha). There was a small amount of mildew present in the crop but it remains largely clean. It also received N16 (10l/ha), Novasco (1l/ha) and a trace element spray.
His spring barley is looking well and is at various stages of development. The head has emerged in his February-sown crop and received a head spray this month of Ceriax (1.5l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) as well as N16 (10l/ha or 2kg N/ha). Andrew has dialled back on nitrogen significantly this year as a result of the uncertainly of soil N availability from the drought-affected ground last year.
Later-sown crops will receive a head spray at the end of this week. His latest sown crops received CCC (1l/ha) on May 15 and are now every thick.
There is a small amount of net blotch and rhynchosporium present in the crop and it received its first fungicide spray of Zephyr (0.75l/ha) and Proline (0.2l/ha) this week. His peas have started flowering this week.
Bushmills, Co Antrim
With over 80mm of rainfall on Mark’s farm over the past month, ground conditions began to deteriorate last week and resulted in the waterlogging of some of his potato crops.
“On Wednesday, there was about an acre of our potato crop under water,” Mark explained. Mark then had to dig a trench across his potato drills into a nearby ditch in order to drain the flooded crop.
Mark McCurdy had to dig trenches across his potato drill to drain a flooded patched in his field last week.
“Surprisingly, inside the drill was relatively dry, there was just so much rain that fell over a 24-hour period,” he explains. As the flooded area was drained quickly, there was no damage done to the growing tubers.
The plastic was removed from his early sown potatoes three weeks ago and the first crop is due to be harvested later this week. The crop will be harvested as required and sold immediately. Potato demand has remained steady on account of the cooler weather. He will also continue to sell his stored old season crop up until August. His early crop has received three blight sprays so far at seven- to 10-day intervals. He applied Dithane (2kg/ha) for his first two sprays, and Proxanil (2.47l/ha) for the third. Blight risk was heightened last week with high rainfall amounts and higher temperatures, Mark explains.
His spring crops are progressing well and have received their first fungicide this week consisting of Mobius (0.55l/ha) as well as Moddus (0.2l/ha) and Jet (manganese trace element spray at 1l/ha). Ground trafficability was reasonable, despite the heavy rain. Disease pressure has increased in the crop over the past 10 days and there are now small amounts of net blotch and rhynchosporium visible.
The crop also received a herbicide application three weeks ago consisting of Prompt (0.81l/ha) and Cleave (0.81l/ha) to target broadleaved weeds mostly. Mark also included an aphicide (Stealth at 0.05l/ha) as well as Jet (1l/ha). BYDV generally isn’t an issue on Marks farm and this year isn’t any different. He also had to apply a follow up application Galgon (1.7l/ha) to mop up volunteer potatoes in the crop.
Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny
June has been a wet month so far in Ballyragget, with rainfall totalling 47.6mm. Crops have responded well to the rain, however. James applied a T3 on his winter wheat consisting of Prosaro (0.8l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) at the start of this week. The bulk of the crop is currently mid-flower. As the rest of this week is giving wet, it was crucial to get the head spray applied on time to minimise the risk of fusarium infection.
James O’Reilly applying a T3 head spray of Prosaro and Bravo onto his winter wheat crops earlier this week.
“In an ideal world, I would apply a head spray when 25% to 50% of the crops are in mid-flower, but I’d rather be two days early instead of two days late.”
He is applying 1kg/ha Epsom salts with every spray timing on his wheat this year and James believes this has been beneficial to the crop, although it remains to be seen if this will transfer into yield.
There is some yellow rust present on the third leaves in his JD Diego, while Costello has four clean leaves. His Graham is also quite clean. He envisages growing less JD Diego going forward due to septoria levels in that variety in his area.
James’s winter oats appear to have great yield potential and have experienced a good grain filling period. He split his T2 application on account of the extended duration between his first and second fungicide timing. He first applied Opus Team (0.75l/ha) and followed up last week with Elatus Plus (0.35l/ha). He notes that the head is bigger than normal.
His winter barley is looking well although he doesn’t envisage that there will be bumper yield this year.
All going well, he expects to be finished the winter barley harvest within six weeks. His winter oilseed rape will be sprayed off towards the first week of July.
Straw demand remains high with the bulk of James’s new season straw now accounted for. Prices remain at around €20 for a 4x4 round bale.
James is involved in organising a Groups Together meeting and field walk starting at the Lord Bagenal Hotel Carlow, this Friday 14 June at 11 am. Topics include the prospects for hemp in Ireland, liquid nitrogen, crop insurance and aphid control and identification.
Read more
Cereal variety trials return to the northwest
June has been a wet month in all areas, but crops are standing well and continue to show potential. The countdown is now on until the winter barley harvest commences
Athy, Co Kildare
May was a dry month in Athy, with rainfall totalling 12mm. Crops were holding up well but Andrew feels that they were held back somewhat over the month. The first week of June was quick to compensate for May, however, with 30mm of rain falling last Tuesday. Crops appear to have responded very well to this.
Andrew recently installed two 10,000l water tanks to collect rainwater from his sheds for his sprayer. He calculates that 1mm of rain equates to 400l of water.
His winter barley is standing well but is quite tall. The patches affected by BYDV are thinner. Head lengths vary but overall, the crop appears to have good potential. He envisages that it won’t be a particularly early harvest.
Andrew’s winter wheat is in mid-flower and received a T3 head spray last week. There was an amount of mildew present in the lower canopy as well as low levels of septoria. His head spray consisted of Capalo (1l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) as well as Novasco seaweed extract (1l/ha), multi-mineral trace elements (1l/ha) and N16 (20l/ha). The N16 contains 16% nitrogen, which equates to 4kg N/ha as well as magnesium and calcium.
His winter oats have headed out and are currently flowering. The crop received a head spray when the head was half way out and consisted of Comet (0.8l/ha) and Corbel (0.6l/ha). There was a small amount of mildew present in the crop but it remains largely clean. It also received N16 (10l/ha), Novasco (1l/ha) and a trace element spray.
His spring barley is looking well and is at various stages of development. The head has emerged in his February-sown crop and received a head spray this month of Ceriax (1.5l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) as well as N16 (10l/ha or 2kg N/ha). Andrew has dialled back on nitrogen significantly this year as a result of the uncertainly of soil N availability from the drought-affected ground last year.
Later-sown crops will receive a head spray at the end of this week. His latest sown crops received CCC (1l/ha) on May 15 and are now every thick.
There is a small amount of net blotch and rhynchosporium present in the crop and it received its first fungicide spray of Zephyr (0.75l/ha) and Proline (0.2l/ha) this week. His peas have started flowering this week.
Bushmills, Co Antrim
With over 80mm of rainfall on Mark’s farm over the past month, ground conditions began to deteriorate last week and resulted in the waterlogging of some of his potato crops.
“On Wednesday, there was about an acre of our potato crop under water,” Mark explained. Mark then had to dig a trench across his potato drills into a nearby ditch in order to drain the flooded crop.
Mark McCurdy had to dig trenches across his potato drill to drain a flooded patched in his field last week.
“Surprisingly, inside the drill was relatively dry, there was just so much rain that fell over a 24-hour period,” he explains. As the flooded area was drained quickly, there was no damage done to the growing tubers.
The plastic was removed from his early sown potatoes three weeks ago and the first crop is due to be harvested later this week. The crop will be harvested as required and sold immediately. Potato demand has remained steady on account of the cooler weather. He will also continue to sell his stored old season crop up until August. His early crop has received three blight sprays so far at seven- to 10-day intervals. He applied Dithane (2kg/ha) for his first two sprays, and Proxanil (2.47l/ha) for the third. Blight risk was heightened last week with high rainfall amounts and higher temperatures, Mark explains.
His spring crops are progressing well and have received their first fungicide this week consisting of Mobius (0.55l/ha) as well as Moddus (0.2l/ha) and Jet (manganese trace element spray at 1l/ha). Ground trafficability was reasonable, despite the heavy rain. Disease pressure has increased in the crop over the past 10 days and there are now small amounts of net blotch and rhynchosporium visible.
The crop also received a herbicide application three weeks ago consisting of Prompt (0.81l/ha) and Cleave (0.81l/ha) to target broadleaved weeds mostly. Mark also included an aphicide (Stealth at 0.05l/ha) as well as Jet (1l/ha). BYDV generally isn’t an issue on Marks farm and this year isn’t any different. He also had to apply a follow up application Galgon (1.7l/ha) to mop up volunteer potatoes in the crop.
Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny
June has been a wet month so far in Ballyragget, with rainfall totalling 47.6mm. Crops have responded well to the rain, however. James applied a T3 on his winter wheat consisting of Prosaro (0.8l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) at the start of this week. The bulk of the crop is currently mid-flower. As the rest of this week is giving wet, it was crucial to get the head spray applied on time to minimise the risk of fusarium infection.
James O’Reilly applying a T3 head spray of Prosaro and Bravo onto his winter wheat crops earlier this week.
“In an ideal world, I would apply a head spray when 25% to 50% of the crops are in mid-flower, but I’d rather be two days early instead of two days late.”
He is applying 1kg/ha Epsom salts with every spray timing on his wheat this year and James believes this has been beneficial to the crop, although it remains to be seen if this will transfer into yield.
There is some yellow rust present on the third leaves in his JD Diego, while Costello has four clean leaves. His Graham is also quite clean. He envisages growing less JD Diego going forward due to septoria levels in that variety in his area.
James’s winter oats appear to have great yield potential and have experienced a good grain filling period. He split his T2 application on account of the extended duration between his first and second fungicide timing. He first applied Opus Team (0.75l/ha) and followed up last week with Elatus Plus (0.35l/ha). He notes that the head is bigger than normal.
His winter barley is looking well although he doesn’t envisage that there will be bumper yield this year.
All going well, he expects to be finished the winter barley harvest within six weeks. His winter oilseed rape will be sprayed off towards the first week of July.
Straw demand remains high with the bulk of James’s new season straw now accounted for. Prices remain at around €20 for a 4x4 round bale.
James is involved in organising a Groups Together meeting and field walk starting at the Lord Bagenal Hotel Carlow, this Friday 14 June at 11 am. Topics include the prospects for hemp in Ireland, liquid nitrogen, crop insurance and aphid control and identification.
Read more
Cereal variety trials return to the northwest
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