Weather: The weather remains dry forecast. Early-sown crops are looking good. Some late-sown crops are under stress and need to be minded. Don’t apply herbicides or growth regulator in the very hot conditions. Add nutrition where needed, but do not apply big tank mixes to stressed crops.

Spring barley: A lot of spring barley is now getting its fungicide. Many crops are passed this stage. It should be applied before growth stage 30 and preferably at mid-tillering. Add nutrition where needed and on stressed crops consider a bio-stimulant like seaweed, but not where a growth regulator is added to the tank in stressed crops and hot weather.

Teagasc advises two different active ingredients applied at half rate will give the best economic return. However, watch out for this on certain products. With Proline for example, which has 250g/l of Prothioconazole, the maximum individual dose is 0.8l/ha, but you need 0.5l/ha, not 0.4l/ha to give the best rate. To give effective control of rhynchosporium you need 125g/l of Proline when it’s the only triazole in the mix.

A strobilurin is needed for net blotch control. Comet is the most popular one here. The full rate of Comet is 1.25l/ha, so about 0.6l/ha of Comet is needed. Comet is available in a pack which includes new product Navura which contains Prothioconazole and Revysol and may be an option for some.

There are mixes available which may make spraying a bit easier. For example, Delaro Forte contains three actives in one can. Elatus Era is another one-can mix that is a good T1 option.

Winter wheat: T2s are starting to go out on winter wheat crops. The T2 should be applied when the flag leaf is emerged. All applications should include Folpet at 1.5l/ha. The main product in the tank will contain a triazole and an SDHI or Inatreq. If you used Macfare of Revysol at T1 then you should not apply these products at T2. You will need to apply Inatreq at T2. If you used Inatreq at T1 then you will need to use a different product at T2. It should be noted that you cannot legally apply Inatreq at both timings and should not to protect the chemistry. Inatreq is available in the original products of Questar and Peacoq and a new product Jessico One plus Jettano. However, farmers can only use one product containing Inatreq in a season.

Growth regulators: Be careful if applying growth regulator in the current dry and warm weather. Even crops which are established well and would benefit from a growth regulator may be hit by its application. If you are applying aim for a cooler day where possible or hold off altogether until crops are a little less stressed.

Beet: Split beet applications where possible. Residuals will not work as well in the dry conditions. Try and have a good number of weeds visible when spraying, but don’t let them get too big.