Weather: Crops are flying in the fields. You can see a report from Tipperary on this week’s tillage pages in the Irish Farmers Journal.

The recent rain will do no harm at all and should help crops to push on. There has been a return to colder temperatures so watch out when travelling with growth regulator or herbicide mixes. Try not to stress crops. Extremes in temperature from day to night are the big issue. Saturday looks like temperatures might hit 0°c. Keep an eye on the forecast.

Weeds: The rain should help weeds in spring crops to come through, particularly the early-sown crops.

The rain will also move growth on quite quickly so it will be important to apply herbicide efficiently to crops that are tillering and covering the ground. Weed sprays should include a sulphonyl urea like Ally, Cameo or Harmony along with a fluroxypyr-based product like Galaxy or an Arlyex-based product like Zypar. Zypar should be considered where resistant chickweed is an issue. If you have resistant chickweed then Galaxy will not provide enough fluroxypyr and you will need to top up the rate with another product.

Aphids: Crops that were sown in March do not need an aphicide. Research has shown that March sown spring crops are much less likely to get barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). Temperatures last week, while warm during the day also dropped at night so this would not promote aphids to move around too much and spread virus. Spraying can kill the natural predators so avoid it where it is not necessary.

Winter barley: Some winter barley crops are at or nearly at flag leaf stage. Some crops have awns out, but the majority are behind this. Depending on how strong the crop is it may need another application of growth regulator. Consult with your agronomist.

Terpal works best when the flag leaf is emerging. Most winter barley varieties are middle of the road on resistance to straw breakdown, while some are behind on resistance to lodging so take this into consideration.

Winter wheat: Some crops will be due their first main fungicide this week. Leaf 3 is the target for this spray and it should be fully emerged. Some early-sown crops are likely to have leaf 3 emerged in the coming days, while others are a bit off yet. If disease pressure is low then Revystar or Ascra could be used. Inatreq is the strongest fungicide and so should really be held until it will give the most response at flag leaf.

If you think there is too much disease at the base of the crop then you might swap and use Inatreq at T1. The T1 should also contain Folpet, growth regulator where temperatures allow and nutrition where needed.

Teagasc crop walks: Teagasc are holding spring crop walks across the country. Keep an eye out for dates. The West Cork Spring Crop Walk is on Tuesday, 22 April (changed from previously advertised) at 7pm on the farm of Raymond and Gavin Maloney, meeting at the Blue Horizon Car Park in Garretstown, Co Cork, P17 AK65.