Stephen Wallace, Mountrath, Co Laois
The rain last week was welcomed in Laois as some of Stephen’s crops were starting to feel a small bit of stress from the dry weather.
The winter wheat has received its second split of nitrogen.
Stephen has not applied a T0 fungicide as the crop is very clean and the weather had been so dry, reducing the spread of septoria. He did apply a plant growth regulator and trace elements recently.
However, this caused a small bit of scorch on the crop due to cold nighttime temperatures, but Stephen says he had to apply it as the crop was growing quickly.
The winter oats look very promising.
They are still clean of disease, but a herbicide has been applied to clean up some cleavers that had remained in the crop.
All of the nitrogen has now been applied, totalling 145 units/ac. A growth regulator and trace elements have been applied too.
A view of the spring (left) and winter (right) beans on Stephen's farm.
The winter beans are growing very well, but the spring beans are absolutely flying it and he says they will not be too far behind the winter beans. The establishment of the spring beans was excellent, over 95%.
Uniform fields
The spring barley also established very well. Stephen notes that wet spots that are usually quite problematic have established very well this year, leaving very uniform fields. The barley has been top dressed now, bringing the crop up to 130 units/ac.
He also says that he started to use autosteer during drilling for the first time this year and he has seen some seed savings. He is looking forward to using it over a full year to see how it fares.
Stephen is currently helping to organise the Rev for Trev Memorial Run which takes place at Mountrath Mart on Sunday 11 May. More details can be found on their Facebook page.
Pádraig Connery
Villierstown, Co Waterford
The crops in Waterford look very well and they are rocketing through the growth stages.
The Integral winter barley is more advanced than the Belfry or SY Canyon. A T1 fungicide and growth regulator was applied to the Integral on 25 March and to the other crops on 31 March. The Integral received Terpal on 16 April.
The barley has received 200kg N/ha on average, with this increasing or decreasing depending on the potential of the crop, the previous crop, and slurry applications. While all the crops look good, Pádraig says two fields of Integral stand out, one being after beans and the other after spring oats.
The winter wheat has come on a lot in the past few weeks. It received a T0 fungicide of Thiopron (2.85l/ha) and LS Pyrac on 11 April alongside growth regulators of Stabilan 750 and Moddus 250 EC. He has applied 165kg N/ha so far.
The winter oats has received all of its nitrogen, a total of 135kg N/ha. The crop looks very good and it has a nice colour to it now after the crop had yellowed a bit earlier this year. On 31 March, Pádraig applied Stabilan 750 and LS Pyrac but decided to leave out Tridus as the weather was unfavourable. It will be applied in the next application.
Two-leaf stage
The spring barley has emerged and is at the two-leaf stage. There is a small bit of wheel tracking from when the crops were rolled but he does not think it will be an issue. All of the nitrogen has been applied. Pádraig tried some liquid nitrogen on some of the spring barley for the first time. There was no scorch and he found it simple to use.
Finally, he says that he has had the best establishment of spring beans that he can remember, and they are well set up after the recent rain for the season ahead.
David Hobson
Dunsany, Co Meath
With just 11.2 mm of rain in March, the recent showers were a welcome sight in Meath. Last year’s difficult spring is a distant memory for David with 2025 starting off very positively.
Despite the dry weather, winter crops on the farm have been progressing well with the third last leaf now mostly out on early sown wheat crops.
The winter barley in general looks promising despite some magnesium deficiency and cold stress visible. It has received all of its nitrogen. The KWS Cassia barley will receive another strong fungicide combination (Prothioconazole, Fluxapyroxad & Folpet) with Moddus (0.2l/ha), Cycocel (1l/ha) and trace elements (Magnite).
There is fumitory in some of David's wheat which will be cleaned up this week.
There was plenty of net blotch on the crop early on, but this has been controlled. The hybrid barley is very strong and will receive straight Prothioconazole and folpet with Medax Max at 0.4kg/ha and trace elements.
All winter wheats have been brought up to 150kg N/ha with 320l/ha of liquid fertiliser (24% N, 3% S) delivering 96kg N/ha. The final splits will go on before GS32 to reduce the risk of scorch. Some of the early sown wheats are now due their T1. They will receive Macfare Xpro (1.5l/ha) with folpet (1.25l/ha) and Magnite (3l/ha).
Wild oats
Fields with volunteer bean and fumitory issues will receive Zypar (0.5l/ha) in the tank mix. Wild oats were sprayed earlier in April with Foxtrot (1l/ha) on its own and not in a tank mix. The later-sown wheats that did not receive a T0 will receive a stronger first fungicide of Questar, Proteb (1.5l/ha and 0.75 l/ha respectively) and folpet, followed by either Revystar XL or Macfare Xpro for T2.
The oats and rapeseed have received all of their nitrogen. The oats received a plant growth regulator (K2) and trace elements two weeks ago. It will receive Boogie (1l/ha), Moddus (0.2l/ha) and Magnite (3l/ha) in the coming week.
Stephen Wallace, Mountrath, Co Laois
The rain last week was welcomed in Laois as some of Stephen’s crops were starting to feel a small bit of stress from the dry weather.
The winter wheat has received its second split of nitrogen.
Stephen has not applied a T0 fungicide as the crop is very clean and the weather had been so dry, reducing the spread of septoria. He did apply a plant growth regulator and trace elements recently.
However, this caused a small bit of scorch on the crop due to cold nighttime temperatures, but Stephen says he had to apply it as the crop was growing quickly.
The winter oats look very promising.
They are still clean of disease, but a herbicide has been applied to clean up some cleavers that had remained in the crop.
All of the nitrogen has now been applied, totalling 145 units/ac. A growth regulator and trace elements have been applied too.
A view of the spring (left) and winter (right) beans on Stephen's farm.
The winter beans are growing very well, but the spring beans are absolutely flying it and he says they will not be too far behind the winter beans. The establishment of the spring beans was excellent, over 95%.
Uniform fields
The spring barley also established very well. Stephen notes that wet spots that are usually quite problematic have established very well this year, leaving very uniform fields. The barley has been top dressed now, bringing the crop up to 130 units/ac.
He also says that he started to use autosteer during drilling for the first time this year and he has seen some seed savings. He is looking forward to using it over a full year to see how it fares.
Stephen is currently helping to organise the Rev for Trev Memorial Run which takes place at Mountrath Mart on Sunday 11 May. More details can be found on their Facebook page.
Pádraig Connery
Villierstown, Co Waterford
The crops in Waterford look very well and they are rocketing through the growth stages.
The Integral winter barley is more advanced than the Belfry or SY Canyon. A T1 fungicide and growth regulator was applied to the Integral on 25 March and to the other crops on 31 March. The Integral received Terpal on 16 April.
The barley has received 200kg N/ha on average, with this increasing or decreasing depending on the potential of the crop, the previous crop, and slurry applications. While all the crops look good, Pádraig says two fields of Integral stand out, one being after beans and the other after spring oats.
The winter wheat has come on a lot in the past few weeks. It received a T0 fungicide of Thiopron (2.85l/ha) and LS Pyrac on 11 April alongside growth regulators of Stabilan 750 and Moddus 250 EC. He has applied 165kg N/ha so far.
The winter oats has received all of its nitrogen, a total of 135kg N/ha. The crop looks very good and it has a nice colour to it now after the crop had yellowed a bit earlier this year. On 31 March, Pádraig applied Stabilan 750 and LS Pyrac but decided to leave out Tridus as the weather was unfavourable. It will be applied in the next application.
Two-leaf stage
The spring barley has emerged and is at the two-leaf stage. There is a small bit of wheel tracking from when the crops were rolled but he does not think it will be an issue. All of the nitrogen has been applied. Pádraig tried some liquid nitrogen on some of the spring barley for the first time. There was no scorch and he found it simple to use.
Finally, he says that he has had the best establishment of spring beans that he can remember, and they are well set up after the recent rain for the season ahead.
David Hobson
Dunsany, Co Meath
With just 11.2 mm of rain in March, the recent showers were a welcome sight in Meath. Last year’s difficult spring is a distant memory for David with 2025 starting off very positively.
Despite the dry weather, winter crops on the farm have been progressing well with the third last leaf now mostly out on early sown wheat crops.
The winter barley in general looks promising despite some magnesium deficiency and cold stress visible. It has received all of its nitrogen. The KWS Cassia barley will receive another strong fungicide combination (Prothioconazole, Fluxapyroxad & Folpet) with Moddus (0.2l/ha), Cycocel (1l/ha) and trace elements (Magnite).
There is fumitory in some of David's wheat which will be cleaned up this week.
There was plenty of net blotch on the crop early on, but this has been controlled. The hybrid barley is very strong and will receive straight Prothioconazole and folpet with Medax Max at 0.4kg/ha and trace elements.
All winter wheats have been brought up to 150kg N/ha with 320l/ha of liquid fertiliser (24% N, 3% S) delivering 96kg N/ha. The final splits will go on before GS32 to reduce the risk of scorch. Some of the early sown wheats are now due their T1. They will receive Macfare Xpro (1.5l/ha) with folpet (1.25l/ha) and Magnite (3l/ha).
Wild oats
Fields with volunteer bean and fumitory issues will receive Zypar (0.5l/ha) in the tank mix. Wild oats were sprayed earlier in April with Foxtrot (1l/ha) on its own and not in a tank mix. The later-sown wheats that did not receive a T0 will receive a stronger first fungicide of Questar, Proteb (1.5l/ha and 0.75 l/ha respectively) and folpet, followed by either Revystar XL or Macfare Xpro for T2.
The oats and rapeseed have received all of their nitrogen. The oats received a plant growth regulator (K2) and trace elements two weeks ago. It will receive Boogie (1l/ha), Moddus (0.2l/ha) and Magnite (3l/ha) in the coming week.
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