James English, Cahir, Co Tipperary

When we spoke with James on Monday he had just finished spraying the final fungicide to his spring barley crops and put away the sprayer for another few months. The spring barley, which is all Planet, received Barley Pack at 6ha to the pack. Revystar is the main fungicide here and folpet also went out at 1.5L/ha.

James said barley yellow dwarf virus is evident in his spring barley, but is hopeful that it isn’t going to impact yield too much as it is in single leaves across the fields.

The gate is now closed on winter wheat. It received Firefly at T3, which is a mixture of prothioconazole and a fluoxastrobin. James noted that winter wheat looks well at the minute and that the weather has been quite kind for it.

This too is true of winter barley which he commented was now at its heaviest. Recent cool weather has helped to slow down winter barley progress which will hopefully help with grain fill and be good for yield. So far it is standing well.

At the minute James is walking crops and planning ahead for next year. He likes this time of the year on the farm as he assesses the season’s work so far, what needs to be done or where grass weeds need to be kept in check. He has plenty of help as the school holidays get underway as well.

He will chop more straw this year to help to bring up soil organic matter levels. He said it is nothing to do with demand for straw and that it makes sense at the minute where fertiliser prices are.

One crop which James has increased the area of this year is winter rye which is now about 5ft tall and looks promising. Winter oats are also looking good. Overall crops are looking well in South Tipperary and James doesn’t expect the winter barley harvest to kick off until at least 10 July.

Stuart Fitzgerald, Avoca, Co Wicklow

Stuart Fitzgerald spraying winter wheat earlier this week.

Stuart was out spraying on Monday when we caught up with him. No doubt most tillage farmers were taking advantage of the dry and calmer weather at the beginning of the week.

Winter wheat was receiving a T3 fungicide spray. Stuart applied Firefly at 1L/ha, along with 5kg of soluble SOP (potassium sulphate).

Awns are beginning to peep on the spring barley, so it can get its T2 at any time now and it will most likely be applied towards the end of this week. It will get folpet and Macfare and Stuart has noticed some of his spring barley has a magnesium deficiency. This will be addressed with salts or foliar feed.

Spring oats are now booting and will receive Velogy Era soon, up to now Stuart has focused on nutrition on his oats. The winter oats also received Velogy at 1L/ha on their final spray.

Spring beans are very clean. They were planted at the end of January and received Signum at the start of flowering. Chocolate spot was creeping in at that point, but Stuart is very happy with the crop now. The beans are now between four and five feet tall.

Stuart cannot see any visible differences in his winter barley and winter wheat crops where he cut back on nitrogen rates. The combine will tell the difference at harvest time.

Grass weeds are on the agenda at present too. Stuart has purchased a weed licker and will see if it helps to tackle some small patches of weeds in the corners and on headlands. He had canary grass to spray in his spring barley, while a chickweed problem is now under control in that crop.

Overall Stuart is very happy with crops at the minute and is looking forward to seeing if the trials he carried out on nutrition and nitrogen reduction will impact on yield.

Shane Nolan, Burren, Co Clare

Shane Nolan was busy at silage this week.

Shane Nolan is fairly happy with his crops at the moment. As a contractor, he has been busy at silage in recent days and was heading to Craughwell, Co Galway, when we caught up with him earlier in the week.

Shane noted that the weather has been difficult, but nonetheless, they have been working every day for the past week, starting later in the day and working around the rain showers.

He noted that the weekend should see all jobs up-to-date for the time being.

He will then apply the last herbicide spray to his beet crops. Debut, Venzar, Super Rapeeze (adjuvant) and manganese will all be applied.

The beet looks well, but the herbicide needs to be applied quickly. As the weather heats up over the weekend, spraying will be difficult on beet, but Shane did comment that the crop needs sunshine and heat at present.

Spring barley

His spring barley received prothioconazole at T1 and is now due its T2 fungicide, which will be applied in the coming days. Most of the spring barley is in good condition, but one field did suffer from drought and trace element deficiencies as a result.

Shane sprayed Markate 50 on his spring barley with the herbicide spray. He has not noticed any yellow leaves in the crop as a result of barley yellow dwarf virus. Location and aphid pressure may be lower in Shane’s location.

His spring oats received Talius and Optimus for growth regulation about three weeks ago and the crop is also due a fungicide, which Shanes’s adviser Ronan Carr will decide on in the coming days.

Costs

Shane has not had any issues getting diesel so far this season. He paid €1.49/l this week.

He noted that the majority of farmers out there know that prices have gone up and will pay the extra costs for silage harvesting this season.