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Just a few days' sun has been enough to highlight just how far behind normal growth stages black-grass is this year, advises Bayer CropScience, creating the ideal scenario for control with pre-harvest applications of glyphosate.

"Unusually, black-grass is green in many crops,"  points out Bayer's Chris Cooksley.

"Crucially, this means it’s still photosynthesising and transport systems within the plant will be active. An application of glyphosate will not only take out these plants, but also render unviable any seeds that are still attached and taking nutrients."

Despite the warmer temperatures, the base of many crops remains damp and soil moisture levels are perfect for black-grass germinations, Mr Cooksley notes. “So a timely application of glyphosate that penetrates the crop canopy could also take out any early germinators.

"This is an unexpected chance to effect a firm reduction in seed bank numbers ahead of the autumn campaign," Mr Cooksley says."Take these opportunities while they remain, as anything you can do now will greatly reduce the pressure on your pre- and post-em
treatments in the new season crop."

Mr Cooksley reminds growers that applications can only be applied up to 30% grain moisture and should not be applied to seed crops.