Having grown a world record breaking crop of feed peas last year, Tim Lamyman told The SF that getting the nutrition of the pea crop right from the beginning was the key to his success.

Whilst good establishment is all about making sure that the seed bed is the right quality and drilling conditions are favourable, getting the nutrition of the crop right from the very start makes all the difference, pointed out Mr Lamyman, of Worlaby Farms, Lincolnshire.

This approach was confirmed in 2017 when his 8.23ha crop of LG Stallion – a large blue field pea – yielded 6.47 tonnes per ha, with an average of 15.35% moisture, breaking the previous world record of 6.32 tonnes per ha, which was set in Canada.

“One of the key lessons that I learnt from last year was that my instincts were right and targeting crop nutrition throughout the growing season was the secret to success. I carried out regular tissue sampling throughout the season in order to really understand what nutrient levels were at different growth stages," he said.

"What this showed up clearly was that the crop was deficient in magnesium, zinc and copper in early season. Peas respond extremely well to mixtures of liquid fertiliser, so I used a liquid fertiliser, 1-4-All, by Bionature, to balance those deficiencies. Boron and molybdenum were a major problem later on and I used the liquid product, Rainbow Wave, from Bionature, to help with this.”

Manganese deficiency is normally an issue with field peas. However, levels within the crop last year were adequate for most of the growing period and he put this down to the plant being better able to utilise available manganese in the soil as a result of other key nutrients being applied to the crop.

He added that to help retain seed size and pod uniformity under stressful conditions, applying a liquid foliar feed of calcium and zinc can make a real difference – when the plant experiences stress, it draws calcium from the flowering nodes and this can lead to pods/flowers aborting.

“By ensuring the crop has available calcium at this key stage we retain the maximum number of pods per plant, with a bolder more even sample of peas," he pointed out.

Just before flowering last year, Mr Lamyman trialled a new product, which contains high concentrations of P and K – TipTopPulse – to help boost pod numbers and sizes. “On the two tram lines where this was sprayed, it boosted the pea yield by more than 0.5t/ha and this year I will be applying it to the whole field.”

Plans are already being made for the next crop. “This year’s pea crop is being drilled into an 8.25 ha field which is a grade 2 chalky loam that will give the peas the free draining soil that they like – this is vital to allow for well-structured root development for better nutrient uptake.

“The field been left as stubble, so I will go in with Roundup before cultivations in March. Last year, the field was worked with a Lemken Terra Disc and the Vaderstad Carrier, drilled with Vaaderstad's Rapid System Disc, rolled and sprayed pre-emergence with Nirvana (pendimethalin +imazamoz), which is the plan again this year.

“However, I will pay more attention to early aphid numbers as I did not control them early enough last year and definitely lost yield as a result.

“I will plan to drill this spring once conditions are favourable in April with a seed rate of 250kg/ha, aiming for about 85 plants/m2 and will use LG Stallion seed treated with Wakil XA +GPA – to give early downy mildew control and phosphite," added Mr Lamyman.

LG Stallion has shown a consistent yield advantage over other popular large blue varieties since being added to the recommended list, pointed out George Hunter, the pulses product manager with Limagrain UK. “It has good colour retention and protein levels, making it suitable for the human consumption, micronizing, export and animal feed markets,” he said.