Scotland, eastern central
Most winter wheat in my area went in before the autumn deluge and much got away fairly well. Other, later-drilled fields have remained wet and anaerobic, some have wet patches and areas that have flooded out. There are also plenty of thin patches, but hopefully these will survive.
There are a lot of small plants which will need a boost in the run up to T0, and we need to maintain potential on better-looking crops. Overall, about 25% of the wheat crop will need particular attention but all will need help to encourage rooting.
We now have access to some very good bioscience products from Agrovista’s Innovation Range that can help us turn struggling crops around and also optimise the potential of more promising crops.
There is no doubt in my mind that these products have helped increase yields and continue to do so, providing an excellent return on investment in the process.
Farmers are quietly pleased, and most have accepted them as part of their wheat agronomy. There is too much trials evidence and in-field experience to ignore – we consistently achieve 4-5t/acre crops when using these products.
On more backward crops I will recommend Calfite Extra and Luxor, which will hopefully be applied in the second half of March in the run up to GS30, weather permitting. Early nitrogen is also a priority – quite a few farmers have been able to travel in my area and have applied 60Kg/ha of nitrogen to many of their crops.
The aim is to build a good root ball to support tillering and produce some extra leaf area. Many farmers will hope to turn poorer crops around with an early dose of nitrogen, but some crops will be too small to use it effectively.
A lot of these plants have not been able to respire, there’s not a lot to them underneath and we can’t expect them maintain four of five tillers without help. We also need to be mindful that the weather could turn dry in the spring and prepare accordingly.
Using Calfite Extra and Luxor helps get plants into a physical state to where plants can utilise the main nitrogen dressing efficiently when it is eventually applied.
Given there’s practically no residual nitrogen left in the ground, growers should consider putting on an extra 25-30kg/ha of N.
Better established crops will receive the usual programme of Terra-Sorb Foliar Extra at GS30-32, rather than Calfite Extra/Luxor, plus trace elements as required.
This will be followed by Klorofill at GS39 with the T2 application and 3 ALO T6P at T3. This will be on a case-by-case basis once we see how earlier efforts have materialised.
The aim is to build good enough crops by April that will be ready to grow away and produce big leaves to make the most of the longer day lengths this far north. That can make a huge amount of difference to a crop’s potential.
Spring Barley
Spring barley will receive Terra-Sorb Foliar Extra plus manganese early to boost crops at early tillering.
I will also advise growth regulator at around T1 timing. Anything we can do to maximise the potential of the spring barley crops really helps, and comes into its own if it turns dry in May. This is not uncommon and can slow growth significantly if crops haven't put much root down.
Klorofill is a key product my spring barley programme and will go on around T2 when crops have maximum leaf cover.