The coming days will be critical in terms of getting winter barley crops into the ground across the country.
Up to this point, winter barley planting is reported to be well back on 2022 when just over 53,000ha were planted.
Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, said:“It remains to be seen what this week brings in terms of weather.
“This could allow more to be planted. Later planted crops will need higher seed rates as establishment rates will drop with the poorer seedbeds.
“The losses with slugs and birds will also be higher at this time of year.”
Depending on the thousand grain weight of the seed, conventional varieties will need to be drilled at about 200kg/ha (12.7st/ac) while six-row hybrids will be around 100kg/ha (7st/ac).
Rolling will not now be possible on most crops as the underlying conditions are very wet, even though on sunny days the top of the ground may dry off, conditions underneath by and large are not suitable.
This also makes it important to keep seed rates high.
Herbicides for winter barley crops
“If possible, growers should prioritise pre-emergence herbicides on winter barley as the post-emergence options for grassweed control are poor,” Phelan added.
According to Teagasc, products containing flufenacet (Firebird etc.),prosulfocarb (Defy etc.), or pendimethalin (Flight, Stomp etc.) will work better at controlling grassweeds.
The addition of DFF (Diflanil) will broaden the weed spectrum or increase the effectiveness of the mixture.
Avadex Factor will give good control of grassweeds when used in a programme with flufenacet.
“Early drilled barley has now emerged so growers should keep an eye out for pests such as slugs and aphids,” Phelan explained.
“Where growers think there is a risk of slugs, they should lay down some traps and count the slugs under them after 24 to 48 hours; if four or more per trap are found, then treatment should be considered.”
Early drilled barley is more at risk of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) unless one of the tolerant varieties – Joyau or Molly – has been drilled.
“For conventional barley varieties, the advice is still to apply an insecticide at the two- to three-leaf stage and a second application on these early sown varieties may be warranted later in the season especially in risky areas along the coasts,” Phelan concluded.