The unprecedented rainfall in autumn and winter has led to a drop of at least 10% in the Scottish winter wheat area, with somewhere in the region of 85 - 90,000 ha in the ground.
Agronomy manager, BASF, Scott Milne, said: “In some areas like the Borders and Easter Ross 90 - 95 % of the area has been drilled, however, in central regions, only 70- 80% of the planned area was drilled. The majority of crops have faced really difficult establishment conditions, leading to huge variability both in the stand and in plant development.
“This means growers will have an agronomically challenging season ahead. A good place to start would be to do some soil testing to make sure the right nutrients are in the right area. Residual soil nitrogen will have been lost and P and K could have been lost too with flooding and surface run off.
“Where growers are able to get onto the crop an early kick of nitrogen, 40 kg/ha N, will help to maintain the tillers and perk the crop up.”
Because it has been so wet, crops are shallow rooted. Mr Milne said, “A plant growth regulator will balance and strengthen the tillers, creating a more even crop and uniform leaf emergence to help more accurate fungicide targeting. It will also encourage root development, so roots go further down into the soil improving anchorage and stem strength to reduce lodging.”
Although growers are a long way off applying chemicals to the crop, when they do, it is crucial that they hit the crop at the right stage, targeting the correct leaf layer.
Plant pathologist, NIAB, Dr Aoife O’Driscoll, said, “Crops are likely to be shorter than usual this year. Traditionally we have been able to use the height between the internodes to assess the difference between GS 30 and GS 32 but that might not be a very good indicator of what leaf layer is emerging
this year so growers will need to focus more on their apical dissections to ensure accurate spray timings.
Our recent research has shown that leaf layer emergence varies across years, fields sites and varieties making it difficult for farmers to
get the perfect timing. Growers should try and aim for two thirds of the leaf layer they are targeting to
be fully emerged to ensure the best level of protection against foliar disease.”
“With the huge in field variation caused by the weather and differences in leaf layer emergence within a variety, growers will need robust, proven, versatile chemistry in their programmes,” added Mr Milne.
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