With concerns circulating among industry that growers might risk early drilling in a bid to avoid déjà vu, it appears Mother Nature has yet again demonstrated who’s in control. But could pausing proceedings actually be a blessing in disguise? CPM reports.
“In reality, we’ve not seen the rush of early drilling that was anticipated.”
By Janine Adamson
One minute it’s bone dry, the next there’s a deluge. At the time of writing (end of September), some growers might have had plans to crack on and get drilled up. However, heavy rainfall in parts of the country mean for many, it’s back to playing the waiting game.
According to Hutchinsons technical manager, Dick Neale, pausing for a few weeks could prove no bad thing. “In reality, we’ve not seen the rush of early drilling that was anticipated – growers are aware of rotational issues such as barley volunteers and then blackgrass, which is only just beginning to emerge.
“So whether it’s been a management decision or purely because the weather has halted plans, there hasn’t been the wholesale move to early drilling which some were predicting,” he says.
Reflecting on longer term weather forecasts, Dick suggests it’s likely the next sensible drilling window for wheat will be around 10 October onwards, particularly for those in the East. “All-in-all, growers are in a better place than last year because many have been out conducting remedial work such as mole draining.
“Whereas they may have been aiming to drill the last week of September, once it’s stopped raining and seedbeds have dried out a little, it’ll be more around 10 October – that’s still nearly a week earlier than usual,” he adds.
Dick highlights that for those who drilled really early this year and already have wheat in the ground, it’s likely there’ll be a mixed bag of success depending on how it was approached and what the previous crop has been. But his main concern for the season is grassweed control.
“A few years ago blackgrass control was superb, but 2023 aside, we’ve started to see cracks emerge recently and low levels of plants sneaking through. However, the issue isn’t control of plants – we’re mostly achieving 90%+ success – it’s what’s left. Those survivors are tillering hugely in the spring and they have to be the focus, along with the spring emerging population,” he stresses.
The problem lies in herbicide choice and inadequate sequencing, proposes Dick. “We’re seeing blackgrass emerging much later in the season and we appear to be selecting for the survival of those plants.
“As such, the worst-case scenario this year would have been the bulk of pre-em applications going onto early drilled crops. Luckily due to conditions, that hasn’t happened. Even so, there has to be a more tempered approach to herbicide use with optimised sequencing through winter and early spring,” he says.
And it’s not just blackgrass – Dick notes greater brome pressure too. “Brome is flying out of the ground at the moment, so selecting the correct herbicide for the weed present, will be critical.”
Crop production technical lead at Frontier, Dr Paul Fogg, agrees that protracted grassweed germination is becoming a significant problem. “Even more so if you have chosen to drill early this year,” he says.
“But it all comes down to seedbed conditions – if they’re not right to ensure pre-ems will work, then they’re simply not right full stop. It’s important to not forget the basics of integrated grassweed control.”
The temptation of early drilling plus a shift towards direct seeding and ‘drilling on the green’, means Paul also has concerns regarding barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). “Transmission risk from aphids is greater in these scenarios and with many having signed up to SFI actions for the first time this year – in this case no insecticide (CIPM4) – it’s another dynamic which has to be considered.”
In a similar vein, he highlights the importance of companion crop management which should also influence drilling date. “For those signed up to CIPM3 (companion crop on arable and horticultural land) and aiming to grow something like beans with wheat, sowing date will have to optimised to ensure that action is successfully delivered in the autumn,” he explains.
Paul points out that one success story appears to be oilseed rape. “There seems to be fewer cabbage stem flea beetle around than usual. With the hectarage projected to be low, no doubt growers will be wishing they’d drilled much more OSR this year,” he concludes.
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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