'Still time' to use pre-emergence herbicides on winter cereal crops - specialist
Teagasc has outlined some of the benefits that can be delivered by pre-emergence herbicides when applied to winter cereal crops.
According to tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, the use of these products will deliver high levels of weed control while minimising the potential of issues relating to herbicide tolerance developing.
He added: “In 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 than waiting until the 2-3 leaf stage when applying an insecticide.”
Products containing flufenacet (Firebird, etc.), prosulfocarb (Defy, etc.), or pendimethalin (Flight, Stomp, etc.) will work better at controlling grass weeds when applied pre-emergence, Phelan said.
He explained: “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."
According to Teagasc, 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.
Significantly, Firebird Met is in its use period and must be used up by November 24.
Field work
Meanwhile, field work continues apace on tillage farms across the country.
Phelan said: “The push is on to get winter crops into the ground before the heavy rain that is coming on Sunday.
“Ground conditions are excellent at the present time. But there’s no guarantee of this remaining the case after the weekend.”
Turning to potatoes, the Teagasc representative confirmed that growers are strongly committed to getting crops harvested before the weekend.
He added: “Potatoes are going into store now. The curing process normally takes around 10 days.
"At this time of the year, the air that is coming through potato stores remains reasonably dry.
“This helps to remove the moisture from the potatoes and any soil that has stuck to them post-lifting in an efficient manner.”
Potato dry matters remain high, which will ensure high levels of eating quality. But bruising remains an issue within some crops.
“In some cases, this can be a variety-related issue,” Phelan explained.
“But growers are taking steps to minimise the problem by calibrating their harvesters accordingly.
Irish potato prices have improved to some extent over recent weeks. But according to the Teagasc tillage specialist, small stocks of 2024 crop continue to overhang the peeling market.
He added: “Potato prices in Europe are not overly strong at the present time.
“Market sentiment in the EU remains quite subdued.”
