17 April 2015. Dry and warm it could be spring. Crops have developed quickly over the last week with many winter wheat crops now with final leaf 3 emerging. Septoria remains the main threat for although it has been dry overhead the fluctuating temperatures have given rise to some pretty heavy early morning dews. Winter oilseed rape crops are coming into flower although this hasn't happened as quickly as expected in all regions. Winter barley crops remain remarkable free of disease in most cases. There is a general call for some gentle rain showers.

• Final leaf 3 emerging in many crops.
• T1 fungicides underway.
• Brown rust in South.
• Yellow rust present in odd crop.
• Pollen beetle increase but as crops start to flower the risk of damage decreases.
• Seed weevils in oilseed rape.
• Bean weevils moving into spring beans.

Winter Wheat

South. All crops are now at stem extension and range from GS29-30 (November sowings) to GS31-32– continuing warm weather in the last week has further encouraged rapid crop growth and leaf emergence, with most September sown crops of Cordiale, Solstice, Crusoe and Skyfall now having leaf 3 around 25-75% emerged, with tip of leaf 2 also showing in apex of main shoots of Crusoe now. With most T0 applications having been made post-Easter, these should provide a very effective protective base to fungicide programmes as have gone onto newly emerged leaves under good conditions. Ground conditions remain very good – but with no significant rain now for around 14 days some fields could do with a shower or two.
Brown rust: odd pustules still evident on lower leaves of September sown Crusoe and Cordiale. With current warm weather being highly conducive to brown rust development on susceptible varieties looking at including Strobs. with T1 sprays.
Mildew: still mostly absent, but has increased on fields where fertility is higher and canopies quite thick (Solstice and Skyfall), indicating that may develop more widely on susceptible varieties now that rapid new growth is underway.
Septoria: still very obvious on older leaves of all September and early October sown wheats – leaf 5 and above remain spotlessly clean. However, even in earliest sown crops – likely to be much lower responses to inclusion of new generation SDHI’s at T1 than last year and more Septoria resistant varieties now unlikely to need anymore input than 75%+ dose of Epoxiconazole or Proline + CTL at T1.
Yellow rust: none seen to date.
Eyespot: stem based browning increasingly visible now on earliest sown wheats as crops move into stem extension.
Weed control: Blackgrass generally only low levels present in most fields following autumn residuals. Moderate levels of meadow grass now in any unsprayed crops drilled in late October/November.

Eastern Counties. Early drilled crops now at GS31 with final leaf 3 emerging or emerged (eg Gallant). Some very close to GS32  but still with leaf 4 emerged with leaf 3 coming. Later drilled wheats just getting to GS31
Brown rust: none seen.
Mildew: none seen..
Septoria: obvious on old leaves in all situations.
Yellow rust: none seen to date.
Eyespot: none seen.
Weed control: main hotspots have had reasonable control from pre-ems but large over wintered weeds remain.

East Midlands. Vast majority of crops look well. Most crops at GS 31 or thereabouts with the odd crop at GS 32 with final leaf 3 emerging. Later sown crops at GS 30-31. T0 now on and T 1 looks to be about 10 days or so.
Brown rust: none seen.
Mildew: trace levels only.
Septoria: older over wintered infected leaves shriveling in the warmer weather and new growth (leaves 5 and above) clear so far.
Yellow rust: reported in a crop of Gallant in Warwickshire
Eyespot: levels remain low with just the odd infected plant.
Weed control: good control from March applied herbicides for meadow grass, broad leaved weeds and wild oats.

West Midlands. Early sown Grafton has final leaf 3 pretty much out with some main stems pushing leaf 2 through. The majority of early to third week of September sown first wheat have leaf 3 at least half way out. Second wheats sown in the third week of September have leaf 3 emerging to 30% out. Most crops have final leaf 3 showing to some degree. T1 starts today with a large amount going from Monday of next week through to end of next week. Despite the lack of rain, heavy dews in the mornings have kept crop canopies wet until mid-morning which may well help Septoria development.
Brown rust: none seen.
Mildew: some low levels on Solstice and JB Diego.
Septoria: very obvious on lower leaves of early sown crops but leaf 5 remains clean.
Yellow rust: low levels in Oakley.
Eyespot: remains at low levels - less than 5% of stem bases.
Weed control: Bromes eventually dying back after herbicide applications.

North East. Late drilled crops now at GS 24.  September drilled crops at GS 31 with faster developing varieties now at GS 32 and final laef 3 emerging. October drilled now at GS 30.
Brown rust: none seen.
Mildew: traces on Leeds and early sown Invicta.
Septoria: very obvious on lower leaves, but not showing on any new leaves.
Yellow rust: very obvious signs in Santiago but not as bad as last week, T0 fungicides taking effect.
Eyespot: trace levels on some second wheat.
Weed control: blackgrass control from Atlantis spring applied looks like it will be between 20 and 60%. Poppies are evident.

Winter Oilseed Rape 

South. All crops are now between green bud and first flowers just visible.
Sclerotinia: with crops moving towards flowering, we are entering the first critical period for potential infection – ascospores are being detected at monitoring sites now, so will be important to get fungicides applied to crops ahead of first petal fall between 10-30% flowers visible and no more than 21-28 days after stem extension fungicide applied.
Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle: still only find very low levels of larvae in petioles of crops.
Pollen beetle: some backward and pigeon grazed crops are now at threshold levels.
Seed weevil: first adults seen in last few days.

Eastern Counties. Crops rapidly coming into flower some almost in full flower others yellow bud.
Light Leaf Spot: becoming less evident other than in a few fields.
Pollen Beetle: appearing in crops this week but as flowers are rapidly opening only the most backward crops may need spraying. Numbers are not currently at threshold levels.
Weed control: a few of the very large poppies seem to have escaped treatment but on the whole control has been good. The frost has controlled around 60% of charlock.

East Midlands. Most crops at early flower and looking good with just a few pigeon damaged crops at green to yellow bud.
Light Leaf Spot: at risk crops sprayed and new growth is now clean.
Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle: no damage seen.
Pollen Beetle: on the whole no major problems with pollen beetle but a few pigeon damaged crops needed treatment as numbers increased rapidly in the warm weather before flowering started.

West Midlands. Fields gradually turning yellow with some probably at 20% flowering.
Phoma: no new sightings.
Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle: no damage to petioles.
Pollen Beetle: crops with uneven flowering are still not at threshold levels.

North East. Crops range from yellow bud to first flowers. Some crops are utilising soil Nitrogen well this season owing to lower winter rainfall, nitrogen rates to be reduced on some crops.
Phoma: no new sightings.
Light Leaf Spot: still easy to find.
Pollen Beetle: lower levels seen this week and still below threshold.
Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle: larvae found in only a few crops.

Winter Barley.

South: Crops typically in range GS30-31+ and beginning to grow rapidly with warmer weather and T1 fungicide applications now underway. Low levels of Mildew beginning to develop on newer leaves now in thicker crops of Cassia/Glacier and Cassata. Net-blotch and Rhynchosporium remain at low levels. Brown rust beginning to develop rapidly in any crops of Volume or Cassia that have not had a rust active T0 applied.
Eastern: GS 31 generally. Disease levels still remain very low with only traces of Net-blotch apparent.
West Midlands. Majority of crops now at GS 31, just a few still at GS 30 where could not get early nitrogen on due to too wet to travel. Disease levels remain low in all crops.
East Midlands. Generally at GS 31 and looking well. Disease levels remain low although there is enough Rhynchosporium on Glacier to warrant a T0. A few fields will need a broad leaved weed mop up, particularly for pansies and mayweed on lighter land.
North East: Crops range from GS 24-31, recent rain has helped crops. Crops remain relatively free of disease with only traces of Net-blotch and Rhynchosporium on older leaves. Brown rust in Bamboo.

Spring beans.

In East Midlands crops are emerging with little weevil damage but the odd notching seen in emerging crops and will need monitoring. In the West Midlands bean weevil activity has picked up quickly over the last few days with extensive notching in some crops.

Sugar Beet

All beet now drilled. Fields drilled 3 weeks ago have emerged slightly better and more uniformly than those drilled earlier 5 to 5 ½ weeks ago. Emergence still looks good with counts from 80 to 1000, 000/ha, most advanced beet expanded cotyledon/1st true leaf just showing. Most are at expanded cotyledon.Some capping has been seen on silts. Some light loamy sand soils on exposed fields blew at the weekend and there has been a degree of  damage to emerged seedlings, unlikely to be re-drilling but there are more fields to assess this week yet. Black Bindweed, volunteer oilseed rape, charlock, pansies, poppies, ivy leaved speedwell and some knotgrass are all emerging with the sugar beet. First or second FAR sprays have been applied, most growers plan to apply the first post-em herbicides next week with a few weedier fields may be treated at the end of this week.

Large flushes of blackgrass are emerging in places, we plan to apply Centurion Max as a priority first before any broad leaved weed applications. We are conscious of the wide spray interval between applications imposed by the manufacturer. This may lead to some growers opting to use Aramo instead.