Growers are being urged not to discard stocks of winter wheat seed with many varieties safe to sow well into March.

With spring seed availability virtually nil and many growers reluctant to disrupt an established rotation utilising seed carried over from the autumn remains a serious consideration.

“Many modern varieties are highly versatile with some well-suited to late winter or early spring planting,” says Limagrain business development manager Michael Fletcher.

“In a typical year most would follow sugar beet or another late harvested crop, but the principal remains the same. Each variety will be slightly different, but it largely comes down to ensuring the variety receives sufficient cold weather after planting to induce flowering,” he says.

Part of a breeder’s variety evaluation work will be to determine the latest safe sowing date, partly for inclusion on the HGCA Recommended List, but also to support the husbandry advice given to growers.  In addition to its own trials, Limagrain has developed a genetic marker to indicate the presence of the Vrn-1A genes which control vernalisation so as to confirm variety suitability.

“As a breeder we routinely determine a variety’s vernalisation needs as part of its market suitability assessment and such data is invaluable in seasons such as this year,” says Mr Fletcher.

But it is not just shortages of spring seed which will be driving growers to consider planting winter wheat.  Many growers will be experiencing reduced cash-flows following last year’s harvest so being able to make use of available seed will come as welcome relief.

“To help growers to determine the suitability of a variety for late drilling we have listed our varieties in order of the suggested latest safe sowing date with data compiled from several sources, including our own trials, genetic marker results and the breeding team’s experience with each variety,” says Mr Fletcher.

“While there are many factors to consider, such as field location (north or south of the UK), its aspect (north or south facing), we hope to give growers the confidence to utilise the stocks they might hold in store, rather than leave fields fallow or plant a crop that doesn’t match soil type or fit the rotation,” he added.