With the recent washout autumn proving a stark reminder of the volatilities of Mother Nature, some growers will be conscious to drill winter cereals as early as realistically viable, to avoid missing out altogether. CPM speaks to experts to understand the pros and cons.
“Specifically choose varieties to accommodate an early approach.”
By Janine Adamson
As the saying goes – once bitten, twice shy. And given autumn 2023 affected most growers in one way or another, namely through the inability to drill winter cereals due to relentless wet weather, some may be questioning a return to early drilling to avoid a repeat performance.
While experts advise simply holding out until optimum planting conditions arise, for some, a combination of the right variety and appropriate management techniques mean going early could yield positive results.
NIAB’s variety specialist, Clare Leaman, believes it’d be easy to outright discourage growers from this approach, but given the difficulties of the past year, she fully acknowledges the pressure to get on as soon as the land permits.
“The advice would always be to avoid farming for the year that’s just happened and to instead focus on the year ahead. Two back-to-back wet autumns would be very unlucky, but we seem to experience such weather extremes – it’s a complete lottery.
“Either way, there has to be an awareness of problems that may be incurred as a result of changing drilling date, the main one being blackgrass control. Afterall, this is one of the primary reasons why growers shifted to planting winter wheat later,” she explains.
For those forging ahead, Clare believes the first step is to select an appropriate variety given some wheats are genetically suited to early drilling. “Certain farms with large hectarages will be familiar with this as they can’t avoid having to plant some areas first, so it’s simply a case of ordering the different varieties they have in the shed based on a per-field basis.
“Whereas for others who are perhaps returning to an earlier date or trying it for the first time, they’ll have to specifically choose varieties to accommodate an early approach, paying particular attention to agronomic attributes and disease scores.
“Don’t assume that any left-over seed in the shed from last season will fit the bill – be sure it’s suitable for the given timing,” stresses Clare.
So what are the key things to consider when picking a variety for an earlier drilling slot? First off, because the crop is in the ground for longer, this means there’s a greater risk of lodging therefore stiff straw is a must, says Clare.
Then, the earlier a wheat crop is drilled, the more susceptible it is to septoria. “Research undertaken by AHDB explores how septoria disease resistance shifts in response to drilling date. The work suggests that compared with the Recommended List ratings, on average, early sowing (average 22 September) decreases the effective rating/score by approximately 0.6.
“Therefore, aiming for the highest septoria score you can to begin with will help to offset that a little,” she suggests.
The third consideration is speed of development, which Clare says is integral to avoid forward or fast developing crops. Instead, slower moving varieties are better.
“Without these three aspects, you can expect to face more septoria and a high risk of lodging. Also, for those in areas with grassweed issues, there’ll undoubtedly be higher blackgrass pressure as a result of drilling early.”
On the market since 2022, Group 4 hard wheat LG Typhoon offers the above criteria and more, believes Limagrain’s Ron Granger. And whereas it doesn’t deliver the same blockbuster yields as others on the RL, it instead has a secure package to support both early and conventional drilling slots.
“It yields consistently across all regions and performs well as a robust second wheat too. But where it really stands out is its septoria resistance (7.2) – one of the highest scores available – which has really been put to the test this season,” he continues.
“Equally, it has stiff straw scoring 7s for resistance to lodging both with and without a PGR, has OWBM resistance, and is high tillering. It’s a great all-rounder.”
Being slow off the blocks, Typhoon is ideally suited for those looking to drill early, suggests Ron. “It’s very prostrate in growth habit and develops steadily. This is important because you don’t want forward varieties going into late winter or the early spring as they’re more vulnerable to frost damage; even more so in the North where early drilling is common due to weather constraints,” he says.
“But just because it’s slow doesn’t mean a compromise on ear fertility or tillering – both are good and consistent to deliver quality at harvest.”
According to Ron, it’s the rounded package of agronomic traits which will have grower appeal. “This security offsets the fact Typhoon isn’t the highest yielding. But importantly, you don’t have to drill the variety early, it’s grows well planted at a conventional timing too.
“It’s just not suited for later drilling within a high blackgrass scenario. It develops too slowly to compete with the weed pressure and better varieties undoubtedly exist for those situations,” he adds.
In terms of what growers are familiar with, Ron says Typhoon is a Claire replacement – the historic variety associated with early drilling – but appears to have improved agronomics. However, this doesn’t mean a relaxed approach to crop inputs.
“Agronomic strategies have to change if opting to drill early, particularly for fungicides and PGR programming and timings. Planning ahead is critical,” he stresses.
Clare concurs: “Design spring fungicide programmes accordingly to accommodate a hit on the septoria score, and be fully aware of the risks involved. Furthermore, there’s no guarantee of an earlier harvest, that’s not the purpose of early drilling,” she says.
Farmacy agronomist based in the Lincolnshire Wolds, Richard Jackson, agrees that Typhoon’s characteristics appeal. “I’ve been looking after Typhoon for a couple of years now and find it’s a reliable all-rounder.
“One of the main concerns with earlier drilling is that it exacerbates septoria pressure, and with the wet springs we’ve been experiencing recently in the East, you can see high pressure on those early drilled crops. Typhoon’s high septoria score is reassuring.”
Of the varieties currently available on the RL, Richard says he tends to only have confidence in one or two when it comes to planting early, and believes Typhoon is perfectly suited to the early window.
“Many new varieties are better for later drilling, but there are fewer options to support earlier planting while instilling confidence that they’ll be standing at the end. But again, Typhoon is very strong in this area,” he adds.
Richard admits yield-wise, it’s middle of the road. “It doesn’t offer outstanding yield but it does tiller well despite being slow developing, which may surprise some.”
Also supporting Typhoon is Wynnstay’s Matt Shand, who says the company has been a strong supporter of the variety since it first joined the RL. “For the past two years I’ve always thought Typhoon looked outstanding in trials and has a very high untreated yield score to back this up.
“A lot of varieties are suffering this season with the high disease pressure, however, Typhoon appears to be withstanding this better than others. Equally, something to consider is how consistent its yield has been during the past few years across the seasons and regions,” he explains.
Matt agrees with Limagrain’s early drilling position for Typhoon: “It has the right agronomic characteristics in this slot even at lower seed rates because of its tillering ability and slow plant development.
“You can see from yield data that it performs very favourably and certainly when promoting an early drilling variety this year to our customers, Typhoon will be one of our top picks.”
So do the experts believe growers will want to jump the gun this coming season? “I won’t be encouraging my growers to drill early purely off the back of the tough autumn we faced last year,” says Richard.
“But you have to start somewhere and in that early slot I’m looking for varieties with good standing ability and a robust agronomic package; Typhoon certainly ticks those boxes,” he concludes.
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
For more articles like this, subscribe here.
Sign up for Crop Production Magazine’s FREE e-newsletter here.
