Ballycotton,
Co Cork
Brian has received 46mm of rain since the weather broke, and it is adding to the crops’ potential.
The winter barley survived the wind and rain despite being quite heavy at the time, with only one field of Integral slightly tossed and a few small lodged patches on headlands.
Crows made an unwelcome return in the last week. Bangers and homemade scarers are being deployed to limit the damage.
The winter wheat has stayed quite clean, and the T3 fungicide is being applied this week.
The spring beans are flowering. He says the plants are shorter than usual because of the dry weather in early May but they are starting to stretch now. He doesn’t think this will affect yield at all.
Bruchid beetle traps have been placed in the beans by Teagasc for a research trial.
The beet is absolutely flying. It got its final nitrogen in liquid form before the heavy rain last week. It should be closed in before the longest day and Brian says the dry spell did not affect the crop at all.
The spring barley looks thin, with later sown crops worse than those sown in March. The late crops are also a good bit shorter.
The spring oats and wheat will get their final spray early next week. The crops are excellent and they don’t seem to have suffered as much as the barley in the dry spell.
No-till drill
Brian sowed some winter bird food under ACRES recently. He used a borrowed no-till drill as there was a large amount of scrub on the surface. A mix of phacelia, radish, oats, barley, red clover, and sunflowers should add a bit of colour to the fields.
With the bulk of the spraying done and the silage for the beef enterprise harvested, the attention turns to getting ready for the harvest. Brian’s combine got a main dealer service and is ready for sunny days and low moisture. Cleaning the grain sheds is next on the list.
Muff,
Co Donegal
Donald planted vegetables using a modular planter recently.
The rain was welcome in Donegal in the past couple of weeks but Donald says the temperature has dipped and the crops could do with some heat once again. Despite this, he says all of the crops are doing very well and he is happy with them.
The organic potatoes are doing very well. They will close over between the drills in the next week to 10 days. Donald has weeded the potatoes twice and re-ridged them afterwards each time. The first round of weeding took out nearly all of the redshank that was in the crop.
For the second weeding, he replaced the ripper points with 6” sloped knives, which are kept an inch or two down from the top of the drills and do a great job. With the potatoes growing strongly, the canopy will prevent light from getting to any remaining weeds.
Import ban
He was delighted to hear some positive news regarding the importation of seed potatoes from Scotland in the latest EU-UK trade deal. The import ban has affecting organic potatoes very badly, with a couple of varieties only grown in Scotland unable to be imported. Donald had considered not growing organic potatoes due to this ban, but persevered with some European varieties.
The mixed crop of barley, oats, peas, and beans is doing very well. The beans are flying it and are exceeding his expectations. The peas seem to have struggled with the dry conditions as they emerged and he says he has lost some plants. The cereals look good but there is some BYDV in the barley.
Polytunnels
Donald has planted many vegetables in the past number of weeks, including tomatoes, salad leaves, Brussels sprouts, pointed and Savoy cabbage, and red kale. Some were planted outside with a modular planter while others are in the polytunnels.
Faithlegg, Co Waterford
Damage from cereal leaf beetles on spring oats at the Seedtech trial site.
The majority of the spraying has been completed at the Seedtech trial site with the focus turning to observations to help select new lines for future recommended lists. June and July are a key time for observing disease progression and straw quality before the combine enters the field.
Winter barley
The winter barley has started to turn colour as senescence has begun. Treated plots are clean but a lot of ramularia is visible in the untreated plots. The winter wheat got its final spray of Prosaro at 1l/ha and Amistar at 0.5l/ha on 30 May. Septoria is present and with the weather over the last 10 days, Denis expects to see a big difference between the treated and untreated plots soon.
The majority of spring cereals on the trial site have got their final fungicide. The spring wheat is still to get Prosaro (1l/ha) and Amistar (0.5l/ha) this week for fusarium while spring oats were sprayed on 3 June with 0.8l/ha of Elatus Era.
The spring barley was sprayed the same day with Elatus Era plus the inclusion of folpet for ramularia control. BYDV is visible in the spring crops but at a very low level. Early March sown crops got no insecticide while late March sown crops were sprayed. Both drilling dates are showing similar infection levels but Denis is not concerned.
The warm weather in May led to the appearance of cereal leaf beetles in spring cereals. They began to strip the leaves but the number of beetles has greatly reduced since the rain arrived.
Fungicide
The beans received their second fungicide this week of Elatus Era at 0.66 l/ha along with 1.25 l/ha of Incite to control downy mildew. The first spray has done a very good job on controlling diseases. Downy mildew was present but the inclusion of Thiopron and Incite alongside Signum has stopped that. Despite the dry weather, beans are looking very promising with strong pod set already visible as the crop reaches mid-flowering.
Ballycotton,
Co Cork
Brian has received 46mm of rain since the weather broke, and it is adding to the crops’ potential.
The winter barley survived the wind and rain despite being quite heavy at the time, with only one field of Integral slightly tossed and a few small lodged patches on headlands.
Crows made an unwelcome return in the last week. Bangers and homemade scarers are being deployed to limit the damage.
The winter wheat has stayed quite clean, and the T3 fungicide is being applied this week.
The spring beans are flowering. He says the plants are shorter than usual because of the dry weather in early May but they are starting to stretch now. He doesn’t think this will affect yield at all.
Bruchid beetle traps have been placed in the beans by Teagasc for a research trial.
The beet is absolutely flying. It got its final nitrogen in liquid form before the heavy rain last week. It should be closed in before the longest day and Brian says the dry spell did not affect the crop at all.
The spring barley looks thin, with later sown crops worse than those sown in March. The late crops are also a good bit shorter.
The spring oats and wheat will get their final spray early next week. The crops are excellent and they don’t seem to have suffered as much as the barley in the dry spell.
No-till drill
Brian sowed some winter bird food under ACRES recently. He used a borrowed no-till drill as there was a large amount of scrub on the surface. A mix of phacelia, radish, oats, barley, red clover, and sunflowers should add a bit of colour to the fields.
With the bulk of the spraying done and the silage for the beef enterprise harvested, the attention turns to getting ready for the harvest. Brian’s combine got a main dealer service and is ready for sunny days and low moisture. Cleaning the grain sheds is next on the list.
Muff,
Co Donegal
Donald planted vegetables using a modular planter recently.
The rain was welcome in Donegal in the past couple of weeks but Donald says the temperature has dipped and the crops could do with some heat once again. Despite this, he says all of the crops are doing very well and he is happy with them.
The organic potatoes are doing very well. They will close over between the drills in the next week to 10 days. Donald has weeded the potatoes twice and re-ridged them afterwards each time. The first round of weeding took out nearly all of the redshank that was in the crop.
For the second weeding, he replaced the ripper points with 6” sloped knives, which are kept an inch or two down from the top of the drills and do a great job. With the potatoes growing strongly, the canopy will prevent light from getting to any remaining weeds.
Import ban
He was delighted to hear some positive news regarding the importation of seed potatoes from Scotland in the latest EU-UK trade deal. The import ban has affecting organic potatoes very badly, with a couple of varieties only grown in Scotland unable to be imported. Donald had considered not growing organic potatoes due to this ban, but persevered with some European varieties.
The mixed crop of barley, oats, peas, and beans is doing very well. The beans are flying it and are exceeding his expectations. The peas seem to have struggled with the dry conditions as they emerged and he says he has lost some plants. The cereals look good but there is some BYDV in the barley.
Polytunnels
Donald has planted many vegetables in the past number of weeks, including tomatoes, salad leaves, Brussels sprouts, pointed and Savoy cabbage, and red kale. Some were planted outside with a modular planter while others are in the polytunnels.
Faithlegg, Co Waterford
Damage from cereal leaf beetles on spring oats at the Seedtech trial site.
The majority of the spraying has been completed at the Seedtech trial site with the focus turning to observations to help select new lines for future recommended lists. June and July are a key time for observing disease progression and straw quality before the combine enters the field.
Winter barley
The winter barley has started to turn colour as senescence has begun. Treated plots are clean but a lot of ramularia is visible in the untreated plots. The winter wheat got its final spray of Prosaro at 1l/ha and Amistar at 0.5l/ha on 30 May. Septoria is present and with the weather over the last 10 days, Denis expects to see a big difference between the treated and untreated plots soon.
The majority of spring cereals on the trial site have got their final fungicide. The spring wheat is still to get Prosaro (1l/ha) and Amistar (0.5l/ha) this week for fusarium while spring oats were sprayed on 3 June with 0.8l/ha of Elatus Era.
The spring barley was sprayed the same day with Elatus Era plus the inclusion of folpet for ramularia control. BYDV is visible in the spring crops but at a very low level. Early March sown crops got no insecticide while late March sown crops were sprayed. Both drilling dates are showing similar infection levels but Denis is not concerned.
The warm weather in May led to the appearance of cereal leaf beetles in spring cereals. They began to strip the leaves but the number of beetles has greatly reduced since the rain arrived.
Fungicide
The beans received their second fungicide this week of Elatus Era at 0.66 l/ha along with 1.25 l/ha of Incite to control downy mildew. The first spray has done a very good job on controlling diseases. Downy mildew was present but the inclusion of Thiopron and Incite alongside Signum has stopped that. Despite the dry weather, beans are looking very promising with strong pod set already visible as the crop reaches mid-flowering.
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