Norfolk farmer Mark Means is quietly satisfied with the progress of his YEN wheat entry so far. As a former YEN winner, he’s determined to ensure the crop realises its potential.

One plot of Barrel, sponsored by Bayer as part of their Judge For Yourself initiative, is certainly showing some promise. If the season goes well it has the potential to do 13-14t/ha, he feels.

One of the lessons of YEN has been the importance of early biomass development to drive root structure below – something Mark’s taken on-board. Coming out of winter the crop had 40% less biomass compared to a similar rotational position last season. The decision was taken to apply N earlier using an N Sensor varying UAN over the field.

When ‘grand growth’ started in late March, a 250kg/ha application of Korn Kali was made to provide K, S and Mg. “Our aim is to supply nutrients when plants need them. Autumn applications of K can leach away from growing roots.”

With spring growth underway, attention to detail is everything to optimise input use and ultimately crop performance.

Mark will again be turning to the N Sensor to check for any imbalances and corrections made with further applications of UAN and trace elements, again with variable rates for thicker and thinner parts of the field. Extran 33.5% will also be applied around the flag leaf timing to prolong green leaf retention.

The other pressing issue is ensuring crops don’t lodge. His silty clay loam is moisture retentive but the surface structure can weaken after heavy rain, increasing root lodging risk. “Tall can mean trouble. If you push it too much then it can go over, and there are very few varieties with an 8 for standing now.”

He feels part of the problem could be the search for better disease ratings. “Newer varieties are taller. Are plant breeders looking to increase the distance between emerging leaves and infected ones below?”

To counter the threat an extensive PGR programme is now standard. The first went on with the T0 and a T1 will follow. Typically this is 3C (chlormequat) with Moddus (trinexapac-ethyl). This may be supplemented with Terpal (2-chloroethyl-phosphonic acid+ mepiquat chloride) at GS35 and GS39.

Disease control strategy is based on timing accuracy at GS39 to ensure effective protection of the flag leaf. Despite his proximity to the coast septoria is usually the greater threat and he considers the T0 spray important in keeping the T1 to T2 gap short. “If you’re forced into an early T1 you might not protect leaf three. Infection can then spread up the plant.”

T0 sprays are based on CTL but Cherokee (chlorothalonil+ cyproconazole+ propiconazole) or Amistar Opti (azoxystrobin+ CTL) will be used if yellow rust threatens. This year it’s been checked by the cold snap and Barrel’s Achilles heel is septoria and eyespot. That means a prothioconazole-based T1 is almost a given –probably a 1.0 l/ha dose of Aviator (prothioconazole+ bixafen).

Mark knows that close attention is vital, but also that luck can play a part. “What suits us here is a summer drought. Our soil will hang on to the moisture so we just need sufficient light to drive yield potential. A cool running engine is the ideal!” he concludes.