Seven agronomic insights to help manage crops in March in the Midlands
Crop Progress
Other than a few crops under water following the February storms, in general cereal crops were looking fantastic as we approach March.
In wheat, there’s some mildew around and Septoria on the older leaves. Our latent disease testing service, CropCheck, is finding Septoria in the latest emerged leaf. So far there haven’t been many reports of yellow rust, but that’s likely to change in susceptible varieties.
There have been reports of net blotch in winter barley, and watch out for mildew as well.
There are some very forward oilseed rape crops – in February we were finding a lot of cabbage stem flea beetle larvae albeit not having made the migration into the main stem. Time will tell what the impact of that will be.
Adam’s agronomy tips for March
1. Control later emerging grass weeds in wheat
2. Consider whether a T0 is required in winter barley and winter wheat
3. Plan T1 winter barley strategies
4. Consider using new CropCheck service to assess disease risks
5. Watch out for light leaf spot in oilseed rape
6. Minimise weed competition in sugar beet
7. Consider benefits of a liquid nematicide in potatoes
