Cereal disease management in the Midlands

Crops across the Midlands look full of yield potential this spring, with full, even canopies of wheat, barley and oilseed rape that are edge-to-edge and largely patch-free. Drilling ran a touch earlier than the long-term average beginning in late September and being largely complete by mid October. A mild winter has pushed on biomass, with some notably long internodes raising PGR questions. Most herbicide work including mesosulfuron mixes and broadleaf weed options should be wrapping up as I write, which shifts the focus firmly onto nutrition applications, PGRs and cereal disease management.

Top 3 things to watch

1. Yellow rust escalating in key wheat varieties

Rust can be found in a number of varieties currently, at our Hinton Demo Site in Oxfordshire it is easiest to find in Champion and Bamford but others such as Extase and KWS Aintree have a reasonable level of infection. The usual suspect varieties like Skyfall and Zyatt are currently clean, but we are expecting rust to appear before T1. Away from the trials site, yellow rust is widespread across susceptible varieties in early-drilled, forward crops with some hot spots of infection in north Oxfordshire.

Brown rust is also a possible risk in varieties such as Crusoe due to the climbing mid March temperatures but the colder end to the month has thankfully slowed this disease.

This is all building up to be a potentially high-risk season especially as once yellow rust gets away it is extremely hard to slow down. Brown rust is eight times more infectious, harder to control and nearly impossible to cure once temperatures rise. So, my advice is to prepare and plan as much as possible now to prioritise covering leaf 3 as soon as it is fully unrolled, that window opens and closes fast.

If you’ve used up one of your strobilurins at T0 for yellow rust or indeed on a brown rust prone variety, careful planning and note keeping is essential as you only have one remaining application on that same crop and if rust remains an issue throughout the season, you may well need a ‘strob’ for T3.

Ben’s counsel: Build your T1 application around timely protection of final leaf 3. Where you decide for T1 that broad-spectrum protection is required on your wheat (and looking around this is the majority of cases), Ascra® Xpro® delivers solid rust activity alongside useful Septoria suppression at a flexible price point, without burning through your most potent Septoria specific chemistry in one go. If budgets are tight, consider reserving these strongest Septoria focused options for true high-pressure situations at the T2 timing and using a balanced programme option like Ascra® Xpro® to cover the mixed rust and Septoria picture that many Midlands fields are presenting.

2. Septoria background and realistic expectations at T1

Septoria is present in the bases of pretty much all crops of winter wheat. Variety resistance differences are currently less visible than the effect of drilling date. Inoculum built up through December to February’s wet weather, although the welcome drier weather in March has helped crops grow away from the worst of the lower-leaf infection. How much reaches leaf three will depend on weather between now and late April. As ever timing of the T1 will make an enormous difference to the level of control. A flexible broad-spectrum fungicide covering the exposed leaf 3 provides the best start for an effective protectant cereal disease management programme on the yield-driving leaves.

Ben’s counsel: Dissect plants to hit the true leaf three emerged on the main tiller and do not guess from nodal growth stage. Long internodes and false nodes can make crops look more advanced than they are, and getting spray timing wrong at T1 is costly. If you judge Septoria pressure to be moderate rather than extreme, a robust rate of Ascra^® Xpro^® offers balanced Septoria suppression and strong rust cover. If you judge Septoria pressure to be higher, isoflucypram in our new co-form Plaxium® offers stronger Septoria activity, with exceptional activity on both species of rust compared to other Septoria only actives that may need additional support.

3. Barley net blotch and Ramularia – plan T1 and T2 carefully

Net blotch is present in some winter barley crops and likely to be on the move, this is the disease that really concerns me and our resistance management guru Dr. Andreas Mehl more than any other so it shouldn’t be overlooked. Net blotch is patchy but serious where it appears and with resistance monitoring data for barley pathogens being more limited than for wheat Septoria, careful programme design is even more important especially with the reduced sensitivity to various fungicide modes of action. Net blotch left unmonitored can cause significant yield loss.

Thankfully, brown rust is less prominent than in previous seasons and it is important to consider Ramularia protection later in the programme using multiple modes of action.

Practical recommendation: For agronomists weighing up barley T1 options, Ascra^® Xpro^® gives mixed modes of action and brings in fluopyram, which currently shows less resistance shift than some other SDHIs. If you are looking to use a potent Ramularia option such as Miravis^® (pydiflumetofen) at T2, add folpet as a multisite to reduce selection pressure on that pathogen and do not rely on one product to do everything. If you are short of spray days, prioritise fields with existing net blotch or a Ramularia history and those destined for malting or seed markets.

Quick reference – timings and priorities for the Midlands

Late March to early April, Wheat T0: Focus is yellow rust in susceptible varieties. Use tebuconazole plus a strobilurin where rust risk is justified.

Early April, OSR: Focus is sclerotinia and light leaf spot. Use a PTZ-based mix or upgrade to Aviator® Xpro® where crops warrant it.

Mid-April, Barley T1: Focus is net blotch and early ramularia planning. Use an Ascra^® Xpro^® based programme and consider adding folpet at T2.

Third to fourth week of April, Wheat T1: Focus is leaf three, Septoria and rust. Dissect plants and match the product choice to your rust versus Septoria balance.

May, Wheat T2: Focus is flag leaf and cereal disease management. Use a balanced programme option or a strongerSeptoria mix where pressure warrants it.

This is shaping up to be a busy time on farm made even more pressured by the possible impact of activities in the Middle East on fuel and fertiliser prices. However, it is not the season to take your eye off the ball when it comes to disease control especially when it’s looking like every disease is present and wanting to rob you of yield. An all-rounder that’s simple to use, flexible, reliable and trusted like Ascra® Xpro® or “Turbo Ascra” in the form or Plaxium® are there to help take the pressure off and insure your investment.

"My advice? Plan the programme properly, prioritise the disease that's actually in your fields - not the one everyone's talking about - and protect leaf three before that window shuts, because it shuts fast. Get those three things roughly right and the rest of the season more or less looks after itself."

About Ben Giles

Ben Giles is Bayer Crop Science's Technical Manager for the centre of England, with 30 years of experience advising on cereals and oilseed rape across the region. His practical, no-nonsense approach is grounded in what he is actually seeing in commercial fields, with a strong focus on effective cereal disease management, resistance stewardship and making fungicide budgets work where it matters most.

Ascra® Xpro® contains bixafen, fluopyram and prothioconazole. Plaxium® contains fluopyram, isoflucypram, prothioconazole. Aviator® Xpro® contains bixafen and prothioconazole. Miravis® contains pydiflumetofen. Ascra, Xpro, Plaxium, and Aviator are registered trademarks of Bayer. All other brand names used are Trademarks of other manufacturers in which proprietary rights may exist. Use plant protection products safely. Always read the label and product information before use. Pay attention to the risk indications and follow the safety precautions on the label. For further information, including contact details, visit www.cropscience.bayer.co.uk or call 0808 1969522. © Bayer CropScience Limited 2026