Autumn planting areas are now back up at 2022 levels. So, effective crop management now becomes priority number one.
Winter barley drilling is now complete with many early drilled crops at the 1-2 leaf stage.
Establishment rates in most of these early drilled crops are reported to be very good as they were planted in ideal conditions.
However there are reports of slug damage in some crops so growers should continue to monitor them over the next week or so. If there is significant damage evident, then slug pellets should be applied.
Crop management
In the crops that have only been drilled in the last few days, there is still time to apply a pre-emergence herbicide, these have been shown to give better control of key weeds that waiting until the 2-3 leaf stage when applying an insecticide. Â
Products containing flufenacet (Firebird etc.), prosulfocarb (Defy etc.) or pendimethalin (Flight, Stomp etc.) will work better at controlling grass weeds when applied pre-emergence, although they will still work quite well when applied post emergence.
The addition of DFF (Diflanil) will broaden the weed spectrum or increase the effectiveness of the mixture.
Avadex Factor will give good control of grass weeds when used in a programme with flufenacet, but it must be applied as a pre-emergence option.
Early drilled barley will be at more risk from barley yellow dward virus (BYDV), even the tolerant varieties.
Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan explained: “There is a temptation not to apply an insecticide, the likes of KWS Joyau, Molly and KWS Orcade as they are seen to be less effective than conventional varieties.
“However where these are planted in September they may benefit from an insecticide application. If they have been drilled in October then, generally, there is little benefit in applying an insecticide.
“September drilled conventional varieties should receive two insecticides, although not ideal, while October drilled varieties should only need one.
“Over the last number of years some growers have decided not to apply insecticides and in some years have not seen much impact from BYDV, so the decision whether or not to apply an insecticide will depend on growers’ attitude to the risk of infection.”
Winter wheat
With the exception of the south and south-east, winter wheat drilling has progressed well over the last few weeks with many farmers now finished.
The exceptions are those waiting on break crop, like beans, potatoes, maize and beet to be harvested.
Most growers continued to drill and get crops into the ground and do not worry about herbicide applications as there is more choice for post emergence applications in wheat.
However, similar to barley, pre-emergence applications generally work better.
There is also the growing threat of resistance both in grass weeds and broadleaf weeds, to post emergence herbicides.
So, where possible, growers should opt to apply a pre-emergence herbicide; the options are similar to barley.
Over the last number of years there has been a trend to apply herbicides, such as Pacifica Plus, Broadway Star, Monolith etc., to winter wheat in the spring.
However, more cases of resistance developing to these products are now evident with each year that passes. So growers would be advised not to rely on them solely for weed control.