Silty soils and blackgrass control in England

Located about 30km from Cambridge in the east of England, David Felce owns and runs Midloe Grange Farm. The 240ac farm is run in conjunction with a neighbouring farm, bringing the worked area to 1,000ac and reducing machinery costs and overheads.

The farm has clay loam soils, but there is also a large amount of silt in the soil. David says that farmers often confuse heavy clay soils with those with a high silt level. Silt does not hold its structure and is moved by rainfall to plug soil pores, capping the soil and David says it can then be like concrete in the dry springs and summers his area experiences.

It also holds a large amount of water and is the cause of a soil’s stickiness. The entire farm has a drainage system and the fields are mole-drained periodically.

David believes in bringing everything back to basics and understanding your soil is one of the best ways to do this. He says that knowing the amount of sand, silt and clay in your soil can tell you a lot about how to manage your soil.

On a recent trip with Lemken, David told us that he likes to keep the cropping plan relatively simple considering it’s a one-man operation. Winter wheat and spring barley are the two main crops on the farm. In years gone by, winter oilseed rape and beans would provide a break in the rotation. However, large populations of cabbage stem flea beetles have decimated oilseed rape crops in recent years, and beans are proving unreliable. Therefore, David has turned to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

As part of this, a legume fallow is planted each year, with the planted species including alsike, Egyptian, and crimson clover, buckwheat, phacelia, and vetch. This then provides an entry for a first wheat.

The wheat is destined for the bread and biscuit milling markets. The varieties are Crusoe and Bamford, respectively. This harvest, the wheat yielded 9t/ha at 12.5% protein. The crop receives 280kg N/ha, including foliar applications.

David says that he now thinks that a lower nitrogen application level with additional supporting nutrients can actually increase protein more than a high nitrogen level. Yellow rust is the main disease for wheat in the area, which means a very close eye needs to be kept on the crop in the springtime.

Blackgrass

The wet nature of the soil is one contributing factor to the high level of blackgrass on the farm. David says that it has been a constant battle for many years and a lot of decisions made on the farm are based upon blackgrass control. Rather than discussing integrated pest management, David says it really is integrated farm management, as it involves all aspects of the farm.

Minimum tillage and direct drilling have been tried on the farm, but it is very difficult to get them to work properly on the farm’s soils, with David saying that he has seen them work successfully on lighter soils but it hasn’t worked for him.

All land is ploughed and furrow pressed directly after harvest except for fields in schemes. When this ploughing is done well, it can help to bury blackgrass seeds. Blackgrass then germinates and is sprayed off in the autumn.

A winter cereal can then be planted directly into the soil with a tine drill. If a spring crop is to be planted, the field is sprayed off twice with glyphosate, once in the autumn and again in spring.

Blackgrass resistance to herbicides is a growing problem, which is why David sees cultural control options as essential. However, herbicides can still provide a helping hand. This year, cinmethylin, flufenacet, and picolinafen were applied to the winter wheat pre-emergence.

A post-emergence herbicide of pendimethalin, flufenacet, and metribuzin will also be applied. The mixing of chemicals and use of full rates is essential to prevent further resistance occurring in blackgrass.

Despite these actions, there is still blackgrass present on the farm. David does not think that the farm will ever be free of it, and it is about how you can reduce levels to a manageable level and grow profitable crops on the farm.

Straw

David bales a large amount of the straw on the farm. He has chopped straw in the past, but he finds that his wet, cold soil leads to low levels of microbial activity, which greatly slows the decomposition of the straw and can cause issues with seed-to-soil contact and slug pressure.

In order to feed these microbes and try to increase their activity, David included 5l/ha of molasses with the glyphosate this autumn. He thinks that the continuous rain over the past two years has washed a lot of nutrients out of the soil.

With no access to organic manures, and cover crops tending to do poorly on his farm, he thinks that the sugar and carbon in the molasses can help the microbial population to recover and also provide a small boost to the planted wheat. He cannot say whether it has worked yet or not, but hopes it will be good for his soil.

David Felce will be present on the Lemken stand at the FTMTA Farm Machinery Show on 12 to 14 November at Punchestown to chat about grassweed control, establishment systems and understanding your soil. Thanks to Lemken for organising this trip. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to hear more from this visit.