Bushmills,
Co Antrim
The north has enjoyed the best of the weather over the past week, with just 7mm falling on Mark’s farm since Friday last (12 April). This has allowed potato planting to recommence and last week, Mark finished planting the last of his chitted Queen and Kerr’s Pink seed. Last weekend he began planting some of his main crop varieties, Navan and Piper.
While ground was in good condition, it was somewhat slow to adequately dry for ground preparation. The seed was either home saved or sourced locally and was dressed with Maxim. He uses a Grimme GB32 to plant normal seed from the cold store. Going well, he can plant up to 10ac in one day. He’s applying Amistar (2.5l/ha) in-furrow for Rhizoctonia control. When planting, he applies around 1t/ha of 8:24:24 (8:10:20 N,P,K). At around 30% through with planting, he has another two weeks of planting ahead. A few frosty nights last week appears to have checked his emerging early potatoes although Mark is confident that they will soon grow out of it.
Mark McCurdy working late into the night, preparing ground with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow.
Mark began sowing spring cereals this week. Ground was first ploughed and rotavated with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow before drilling with a one pass. This year he’s sowing with a Amazone AD303 super. He recently upgraded his drill from a Sulky box drill due to increased hopper capacity. The drill came in from Scotland and is in great condition.
Mark McCurdy working late into the night, preparing ground with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow.
He sowed Westminster and Tomahawk spring barley at 188 kg/ha. The crop will be rolled after and will also receive 370kg/ha of 14:14:18 (14:6:15) shortly after sowing. The crop will be brought up to 125 kg N/ha. His winter barley is looking well and two weeks ago received its first split of nitrogen (60kg N/ha) plus sulphur. The crop will be brought up to 150 kg N/ha. Mark will apply the crop’s T1 this week consisting of Proline (0.4l/ha), Conrad (1.25l/ha), Moddus (0.25l/ha) and the manganese trace element spray Kingflow (0.63l/ha).
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
With around 28mm of rain in north Kilkenny over the past week, James escaped the worst. Parts of south Kilkenny recorded over 70mm since Friday last. Conditions for work over the past month have been excellent. His Quadra and Belfry hybrid winter barely received its final split of N last week and is has been brought up to 175kg N/ha. He applied nitrogen in three splits, 25%, 50% and 25% between late February and early April.
James spraying a T1 on winter wheat with his Horsch Leeb 6 LT sprayer with Sencrop weather stations in the background.
Now at strong GS 37, the crop will receive its T2 when the third last leaf is fully out. So far the crop has received Moddus (0.2l/ha), CCC (1.0l/ha), Jenton (0.5l/ha) and Modem (0.15l/ha) at a cost of around €6.4/ac. James monitors fungicide spend closely, and only gives the crop what it needs. To do this, he walks all of his crops every week without fail and assesses disease levels and crop condition. For hybrid winter barley, he aims to keep the fungicide spend under €30/ac plus VAT.
Overall, his fungicide spend is likely to be higher this year on account of an increase in the price of cholorothanoil based products. His Husky winter oats received their final split of N two weeks ago. Applying a 50:50 split, he aims to have all the nitrogen out by GS32.
The crop has been brought up to 137kg N/ha. The crop also received its T2 of Moddus (0.2l/ha) and CCC (1.0l/ha) as well as Jenton (0.5l/ha), Modem (0.15l/ha and Verdicrop manganese sulphate (1.5kg/ha). The crop was slightly scorched after however due to the frosty nights. Last week, his Graham, JB Diego and Costello winter wheat received its main split of nitrogen and has been brought up to 160 kg N/ha. At GS32, the crop is due its T1 application. His Extrovert and Aquila winter oilseed rape is 90% in flower and next week will receive a half rate of a boscalid based product for scleotinia. In March, James took delivery of the first Yara ALS2 nitrogen sensor in Ireland. We visited him earlier in the month to see the new sensors in action. Watch the full video online.
Athy, Co Kildare
With soil moistures of around 26% on Andrew’s farm last week, the 12mm of rain that fell since Friday last in Athy were welcomed. With gusts reaching over 50km/hr over the weekend however, there was little opportunity for spraying and spreading. Andrew’s spring sowing campaign drew to a conclusion on 11 April, having completed the last of his Limona spring barley crop for seed. The crop was sown at 180kg/ha. The seed was dressed with a manganese and phosphate dressing.
Before sowing, he broadcast around 200kg/ha of 10:10:20 onto the seed bed. He then applied 80l/ha of 7:8:1 liquid starter fertiliser into the seedbed when sowing with his Horsch Simba 4Co and Fendt 818. His Planet malting barley, which was sown at the end of March, also received 100 kg/ha of CAN at the start of April. It’s due to be topped up this week to bring the crop up to 130kg N/ha. His earliest sown malting barley has received all of its nitrogen. Some of this crop has received 1.0l/ha of seaweed which was sown with the starter fertiliser. He’s also trying a mycorrhizal seed dressing on a small amount of crops.
Andrew Bergin sowing the last of his Limona Spring barley for seed with his Horsch Simba 4Co and Fendt 818.
Andrew is approaching his spring crop nitrogen strategy with caution as he is less than sure of amount of nitrogen left in the soils after last year. The crops will receive Galaxy or Cameo Max depending on the field and trace elements when temperatures increase. Andrew also sowed Venture spring peas at the end of March at 150kg/ha and received a pre-emerge spray of Stomp Aqua (2.75l/ha).
There appears to be small amounts of BYDV present in his winter barley. Two weeks ago they received a T1 of K2 (1.0l/ha), Tallius (0.2l/ha), Jenton (0.45l/ha) and Zephyr (0.55l/ha). The crop is somewhat perished looking on account of the cold weather. This week it will be brought up 185kg N/ha. His winter wheat will receive its T1 this week and has been brought up to 190kg N/ha. His winter oats have been brought up to 138kg N/ha.
Read more
Watch: first of Yara’s new ALS2 nitrogen sensors in action in Kilkenny
Watch: finishing spring barley sowing
From the tramlines: sowing under way in north, finished in the south
Bushmills,
Co Antrim
The north has enjoyed the best of the weather over the past week, with just 7mm falling on Mark’s farm since Friday last (12 April). This has allowed potato planting to recommence and last week, Mark finished planting the last of his chitted Queen and Kerr’s Pink seed. Last weekend he began planting some of his main crop varieties, Navan and Piper.
While ground was in good condition, it was somewhat slow to adequately dry for ground preparation. The seed was either home saved or sourced locally and was dressed with Maxim. He uses a Grimme GB32 to plant normal seed from the cold store. Going well, he can plant up to 10ac in one day. He’s applying Amistar (2.5l/ha) in-furrow for Rhizoctonia control. When planting, he applies around 1t/ha of 8:24:24 (8:10:20 N,P,K). At around 30% through with planting, he has another two weeks of planting ahead. A few frosty nights last week appears to have checked his emerging early potatoes although Mark is confident that they will soon grow out of it.
Mark McCurdy working late into the night, preparing ground with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow.
Mark began sowing spring cereals this week. Ground was first ploughed and rotavated with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow before drilling with a one pass. This year he’s sowing with a Amazone AD303 super. He recently upgraded his drill from a Sulky box drill due to increased hopper capacity. The drill came in from Scotland and is in great condition.
Mark McCurdy working late into the night, preparing ground with a Deutz 6160 and Kuhn rotavator and a Same 160 with Amazone power harrow.
He sowed Westminster and Tomahawk spring barley at 188 kg/ha. The crop will be rolled after and will also receive 370kg/ha of 14:14:18 (14:6:15) shortly after sowing. The crop will be brought up to 125 kg N/ha. His winter barley is looking well and two weeks ago received its first split of nitrogen (60kg N/ha) plus sulphur. The crop will be brought up to 150 kg N/ha. Mark will apply the crop’s T1 this week consisting of Proline (0.4l/ha), Conrad (1.25l/ha), Moddus (0.25l/ha) and the manganese trace element spray Kingflow (0.63l/ha).
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
With around 28mm of rain in north Kilkenny over the past week, James escaped the worst. Parts of south Kilkenny recorded over 70mm since Friday last. Conditions for work over the past month have been excellent. His Quadra and Belfry hybrid winter barely received its final split of N last week and is has been brought up to 175kg N/ha. He applied nitrogen in three splits, 25%, 50% and 25% between late February and early April.
James spraying a T1 on winter wheat with his Horsch Leeb 6 LT sprayer with Sencrop weather stations in the background.
Now at strong GS 37, the crop will receive its T2 when the third last leaf is fully out. So far the crop has received Moddus (0.2l/ha), CCC (1.0l/ha), Jenton (0.5l/ha) and Modem (0.15l/ha) at a cost of around €6.4/ac. James monitors fungicide spend closely, and only gives the crop what it needs. To do this, he walks all of his crops every week without fail and assesses disease levels and crop condition. For hybrid winter barley, he aims to keep the fungicide spend under €30/ac plus VAT.
Overall, his fungicide spend is likely to be higher this year on account of an increase in the price of cholorothanoil based products. His Husky winter oats received their final split of N two weeks ago. Applying a 50:50 split, he aims to have all the nitrogen out by GS32.
The crop has been brought up to 137kg N/ha. The crop also received its T2 of Moddus (0.2l/ha) and CCC (1.0l/ha) as well as Jenton (0.5l/ha), Modem (0.15l/ha and Verdicrop manganese sulphate (1.5kg/ha). The crop was slightly scorched after however due to the frosty nights. Last week, his Graham, JB Diego and Costello winter wheat received its main split of nitrogen and has been brought up to 160 kg N/ha. At GS32, the crop is due its T1 application. His Extrovert and Aquila winter oilseed rape is 90% in flower and next week will receive a half rate of a boscalid based product for scleotinia. In March, James took delivery of the first Yara ALS2 nitrogen sensor in Ireland. We visited him earlier in the month to see the new sensors in action. Watch the full video online.
Athy, Co Kildare
With soil moistures of around 26% on Andrew’s farm last week, the 12mm of rain that fell since Friday last in Athy were welcomed. With gusts reaching over 50km/hr over the weekend however, there was little opportunity for spraying and spreading. Andrew’s spring sowing campaign drew to a conclusion on 11 April, having completed the last of his Limona spring barley crop for seed. The crop was sown at 180kg/ha. The seed was dressed with a manganese and phosphate dressing.
Before sowing, he broadcast around 200kg/ha of 10:10:20 onto the seed bed. He then applied 80l/ha of 7:8:1 liquid starter fertiliser into the seedbed when sowing with his Horsch Simba 4Co and Fendt 818. His Planet malting barley, which was sown at the end of March, also received 100 kg/ha of CAN at the start of April. It’s due to be topped up this week to bring the crop up to 130kg N/ha. His earliest sown malting barley has received all of its nitrogen. Some of this crop has received 1.0l/ha of seaweed which was sown with the starter fertiliser. He’s also trying a mycorrhizal seed dressing on a small amount of crops.
Andrew Bergin sowing the last of his Limona Spring barley for seed with his Horsch Simba 4Co and Fendt 818.
Andrew is approaching his spring crop nitrogen strategy with caution as he is less than sure of amount of nitrogen left in the soils after last year. The crops will receive Galaxy or Cameo Max depending on the field and trace elements when temperatures increase. Andrew also sowed Venture spring peas at the end of March at 150kg/ha and received a pre-emerge spray of Stomp Aqua (2.75l/ha).
There appears to be small amounts of BYDV present in his winter barley. Two weeks ago they received a T1 of K2 (1.0l/ha), Tallius (0.2l/ha), Jenton (0.45l/ha) and Zephyr (0.55l/ha). The crop is somewhat perished looking on account of the cold weather. This week it will be brought up 185kg N/ha. His winter wheat will receive its T1 this week and has been brought up to 190kg N/ha. His winter oats have been brought up to 138kg N/ha.
Read more
Watch: first of Yara’s new ALS2 nitrogen sensors in action in Kilkenny
Watch: finishing spring barley sowing
From the tramlines: sowing under way in north, finished in the south
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