As harvest just about comes to an end for many the autumn sowing campaign starts again.

Oilseed rape. Reports from AICC agronomists suggest that most oilseed rape crops are now in the ground and the most forward crops have already established six true leaves. However, the majority of crops range between cotyledon and two true leaf stage. In the north east there was a good start to drilling in mid-August, but wet weather delayed many drillings to early or mid-September.

So far flea beetle damage seems to be confined to eastern counties with reports of some crops in Essex being hit quite hard. Slugs though are the main pest elsewhere with reports of crops in the east and west Midlands requiring follow up treatments of slug pellets. Some re-drilling has also taken place in the east Midlands. There are sightings of aphids in eastern counties but no recordings elsewhere.

Wheat sowing is just underway for some. In the west Midlands earliest sown crops are just at the one leaf stage and crops sown in the first week of September have come through quickly. Wet weather has brought a temporary halt to drilling. In the eastern counties drilling has just started. Slugs are said to be massing in some fields especially after oilseed rape.

Blackgrass dormancy figures from the JK Senior's in the north east shows black grass dormancy averaged 21% this season. This is moderate to high dormancy. High dormancy means it will take 60 days to achieve 90% germination. Note:  Old black grass seed ploughed up does not have dormancy.

They advise:

Problem fields

Do’s

• Leave seed on top when wet
• Very shallow cultivation
• Roll - to get seed into soil contact and moisture
• Delay as long as practical to get more chit
• Plough to bury seed deeper than 5 cm
• Make a good final seed bed

Don’ts

• Cultivate to incorporate seed to medium depths
• Drill too early