Tom Murray, O’Shea Farms, Piltown, Co Kilkenny
Irrigation is well under way in Kilkenny, with very localised showers last weekend leading to large differences between fields. The most forward potatoes are in full canopy. They have a soil moisture deficit of 15 to 18mm, this is being rectified this week through irrigation. The Maris Piper crops are meeting between the rows. The 20-30mm tubers are at risk of scab in dry soil, so these will be irrigated too.
Blight risk is quite high, with warm, humid weather and irrigation contributing to ideal conditions for the disease. A robust programme is being used, with systemic fungicides in use as the canopy develops. Two applications of slug pellets have also been applied, as there is very high slug pressure this year. The salad potatoes are growing very strongly, and are beginning to senesce. The first of these will be harvested in about six weeks.
The carrots are well behind where they should be, but they still look good. Some weeds are being tidied up, while fungicides and aphicides are being applied where required this week. A 5ac field had to be redrilled, as the soil capped following heavy rain post-planting.
The maize is at the four-to five-leaf stage. It has been quite yellow since it emerged, but the recent heat should help. A herbicide will be applied this week to control weeds and trace elements will also be included to help the stressed plants.
The awns and panicles are emerging on the spring barley and spring oats. Elatus Era and folpet will be applied to both crops this week. The barley has remained green despite some stress. One Polish variety that Tom has on the farm did not produce many tillers, whereas the Geraldine barley is very thick and lush.
The harvest is not far away either, as the winter barley is beginning to turn. Tom says that the crop is still standing, but he would not like it to see much more heavy rain or wind.
Neill Patterson, Seaforde, Co Down
There has been great weather in Down in the past week, and as harvest preparations begin with the cleaning of grain stores, Neill hopes that this can continue for the next number of weeks.
Harvest is about three weeks away, with the winter barley starting to change colour. The grains seem to have filled quite well, and the crop is still standing, but Neill thinks it wouldn’t stand much more hardship. It certainly won’t be an early harvest like last year, which started on 8 July for Neill.
The winter wheat is showing potential, especially the KWS Extase, which has large, long ears. The upper leaves have remained quite clean, as disease pressure has fallen over the past couple of weeks. Neill applied a head spray of Tokyo (0.7l/ha) and N16 (15l/ha) on 3 June, and the crop now needs lots of sunshine during grain fill.
Neill was concerned with chocolate spot on his spring beans when last speaking to him. Thankfully, the fungicide has confined this to the lower leaves. It has also cleared up some downy mildew that was in the crop. Neill doesn’t plan on using another fungicide. As the crop is quite tall and the tractor would cause significant damage. As the crop was planted early, it has now finished flowering. Neill is happy with the crop. He also mentions that there is a pollinator margin around the beans, which helped to attract bees to the beans to aid pollination.
The maize suffered with the cold weather over the past month and has been looking for heat. Since the heat arrived over the past week, the crop has recovered nicely.
Neill notes that his crop under bioplastic was not affected as much by stress as other local crops using the old plastic. He applied 40l/ha of N16 on 19 June to help improve the crop and as a top-up as most nitrogen is coming from organic manures for the crop.
Neill applied foliar nitrogen to his maize last week.
Pádraig Connery, Villierstown,
Co Waterford
Harvest preparations are fully underway in Waterford after a busy month of spraying and hosting of the Footprint Farmers farm walk last week. The combine has been taken out of storage and it will be serviced by a mechanic next week. There isn’t any major work to be done, but one or two minor issues need to be sorted on the machine. The winter barley is starting to turn on the farm. The KWS Joyau is quite tall and the grains filled very well, so Pádraig is hopeful of a good return. He is unsure yet whether he will chop the straw or not, especially with a couple of poor areas and some ridges and tracks crossing the field.
The winter wheat received its head spray on 10 June in the middle of flowering, consisting of Maxentis (0.85l/ha) and NTS Trio (0.85l/ha).
The spring beans received their first fungicide, Elatus Era at 0.55l/ha, at the beginning of flowering. Pádraig also included Vixeran (50g/ha), a nitrogen-fixing bacteria. As bean nodules senesce later in the season, this product should help to prolong photosynthesis. A second fungicide will be applied at the end of flowering.
The spring oats got its T1 on 3 June, and Pádraig applied a holding spray of Globaztar (0.75l/ha) last week as it would be five weeks between fungicide sprays if he did not do this. The spring oats look quite good and would benefit from some sunshine.
The awns have emerged on the spring barley, so Pádraig applied the final fungicide at the weekend. The laureate spring malting barley received Balaya (0.9l/ha), Imperis (0.9l/ha), Kingman (1l/ha), and trace elements. The Geraldine spring barley got Colorado (1.36l/ha), Silvron (0.45l/ha), Tokyo (0.45l/ha), NTS Trio (0.9l/ha), and Epso Combitop (4.5kg/ha). The spring barley has remained quite clean and did not come under too much stress in the cold weather.
The eight-way cover crop at the edge of th field, has grown strongly and will soon be flowering in Waterford. \ Donal O' Leary
Tom Murray, O’Shea Farms, Piltown, Co Kilkenny
Irrigation is well under way in Kilkenny, with very localised showers last weekend leading to large differences between fields. The most forward potatoes are in full canopy. They have a soil moisture deficit of 15 to 18mm, this is being rectified this week through irrigation. The Maris Piper crops are meeting between the rows. The 20-30mm tubers are at risk of scab in dry soil, so these will be irrigated too.
Blight risk is quite high, with warm, humid weather and irrigation contributing to ideal conditions for the disease. A robust programme is being used, with systemic fungicides in use as the canopy develops. Two applications of slug pellets have also been applied, as there is very high slug pressure this year. The salad potatoes are growing very strongly, and are beginning to senesce. The first of these will be harvested in about six weeks.
The carrots are well behind where they should be, but they still look good. Some weeds are being tidied up, while fungicides and aphicides are being applied where required this week. A 5ac field had to be redrilled, as the soil capped following heavy rain post-planting.
The maize is at the four-to five-leaf stage. It has been quite yellow since it emerged, but the recent heat should help. A herbicide will be applied this week to control weeds and trace elements will also be included to help the stressed plants.
The awns and panicles are emerging on the spring barley and spring oats. Elatus Era and folpet will be applied to both crops this week. The barley has remained green despite some stress. One Polish variety that Tom has on the farm did not produce many tillers, whereas the Geraldine barley is very thick and lush.
The harvest is not far away either, as the winter barley is beginning to turn. Tom says that the crop is still standing, but he would not like it to see much more heavy rain or wind.
Neill Patterson, Seaforde, Co Down
There has been great weather in Down in the past week, and as harvest preparations begin with the cleaning of grain stores, Neill hopes that this can continue for the next number of weeks.
Harvest is about three weeks away, with the winter barley starting to change colour. The grains seem to have filled quite well, and the crop is still standing, but Neill thinks it wouldn’t stand much more hardship. It certainly won’t be an early harvest like last year, which started on 8 July for Neill.
The winter wheat is showing potential, especially the KWS Extase, which has large, long ears. The upper leaves have remained quite clean, as disease pressure has fallen over the past couple of weeks. Neill applied a head spray of Tokyo (0.7l/ha) and N16 (15l/ha) on 3 June, and the crop now needs lots of sunshine during grain fill.
Neill was concerned with chocolate spot on his spring beans when last speaking to him. Thankfully, the fungicide has confined this to the lower leaves. It has also cleared up some downy mildew that was in the crop. Neill doesn’t plan on using another fungicide. As the crop is quite tall and the tractor would cause significant damage. As the crop was planted early, it has now finished flowering. Neill is happy with the crop. He also mentions that there is a pollinator margin around the beans, which helped to attract bees to the beans to aid pollination.
The maize suffered with the cold weather over the past month and has been looking for heat. Since the heat arrived over the past week, the crop has recovered nicely.
Neill notes that his crop under bioplastic was not affected as much by stress as other local crops using the old plastic. He applied 40l/ha of N16 on 19 June to help improve the crop and as a top-up as most nitrogen is coming from organic manures for the crop.
Neill applied foliar nitrogen to his maize last week.
Pádraig Connery, Villierstown,
Co Waterford
Harvest preparations are fully underway in Waterford after a busy month of spraying and hosting of the Footprint Farmers farm walk last week. The combine has been taken out of storage and it will be serviced by a mechanic next week. There isn’t any major work to be done, but one or two minor issues need to be sorted on the machine. The winter barley is starting to turn on the farm. The KWS Joyau is quite tall and the grains filled very well, so Pádraig is hopeful of a good return. He is unsure yet whether he will chop the straw or not, especially with a couple of poor areas and some ridges and tracks crossing the field.
The winter wheat received its head spray on 10 June in the middle of flowering, consisting of Maxentis (0.85l/ha) and NTS Trio (0.85l/ha).
The spring beans received their first fungicide, Elatus Era at 0.55l/ha, at the beginning of flowering. Pádraig also included Vixeran (50g/ha), a nitrogen-fixing bacteria. As bean nodules senesce later in the season, this product should help to prolong photosynthesis. A second fungicide will be applied at the end of flowering.
The spring oats got its T1 on 3 June, and Pádraig applied a holding spray of Globaztar (0.75l/ha) last week as it would be five weeks between fungicide sprays if he did not do this. The spring oats look quite good and would benefit from some sunshine.
The awns have emerged on the spring barley, so Pádraig applied the final fungicide at the weekend. The laureate spring malting barley received Balaya (0.9l/ha), Imperis (0.9l/ha), Kingman (1l/ha), and trace elements. The Geraldine spring barley got Colorado (1.36l/ha), Silvron (0.45l/ha), Tokyo (0.45l/ha), NTS Trio (0.9l/ha), and Epso Combitop (4.5kg/ha). The spring barley has remained quite clean and did not come under too much stress in the cold weather.
The eight-way cover crop at the edge of th field, has grown strongly and will soon be flowering in Waterford. \ Donal O' Leary
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