28 October 2016. Dry conditions in eastern counties causing crop loss. Forecast for November suggests a spell of rain moving down from the north and then return to dry settled weather but turning colder. Late arrival and slow development of Phoma means that for many one spray treatment will suffice.

• More records of Club Root in West Midlands
• Phoma more sightings but none at threshold.
• Alternaria found in some crops of oilseed rape. 
• Large oilseed rape crops plan for autumn PGR. 
• Blackgrass emerging.
• Flea beetle larvae in some OSR. 
• Wheat drilling continues near completion.
• Mildew in wheat and barley at low levels. 
• Slug activity slows.

Winter Wheat

South. Winter wheat drilling now completed. Earliest sown crops are now at GS2/2 – bulk of emerged wheats between 1 to 3 leaves. Soils and seedbeds are damp following between 5 -10 mm last weekend - most seedbeds are generally excellent following rolling and are providing an ideal start to pre-em herbicide programmes.
Aphids: none seen in emerged crops to date, but all are Deter treated.
Slugs: some foliar grazing now evident in crops after oats where was a lot of straw incorporated.
Gout Fly: with return of settled and milder conditions, have again found low numbers of eggs seen this week. Pyrethroid been applied where eggs could be found on most plants of late September emerging wheat, otherwise hoping that combination of Deter and parasitic wasps will provide a degree of control.
Blackgrass: starting to consider Atlantis applications on earlier sown fields where there is obvious surviving blackgrass at 2-3+ leaves.

Eastern Counties. Cobbly areas still bare though seed has chitted. Where moisture present and in better seedbeds crop is emerging and at up to GS13. East of Ipswich and Chelmsford is still quite dry. North of Ipswich getting wet. More rain required
Aphids: an occasional aphid found in earliest emerged..
Slugs: tiny bit of damage after rape, mainly in trashy areas.
Gout fly: eggs seen.
Blackgrass: now emerging in hotspots where rain has fallen. Liberator, Crystal are the main pre-ems going on as well as Avadex where needed.

East Midlands. Comment on current growth stages, most forward at 3 leaf, 30% not yet emerged, emergence is now taking 15+days. Those to the west of the region are pretty much drilled up whist those to the east report only 60% drilled.
Aphids: none seen yet.
Slugs: high levels after oilseed rape.
Blackgrass: emerging at low levels, recent chemical treatments are having an effect on the grass weed and the crop! Massive flush on stale seed beds now being sprayed with glyphosate.

West Midlands. Most forward crops have 2-3 tillers, drilling after fodder beet has started, all wheat after potatoes will be in by end of October, all wheat after grass is in. Ground conditions excellent both for min till drilling and spraying but crops once more starting to look in need of a drink (mainly heavy land crops established in conditions that were not ideal at the time).
Mildew: odd sightings: Seen in Crusoe and Grafton.
Aphids: none seen.
Slugs: still mainly patching up wheat after rape on small areas with no crops lost yet.
Blackgrass: all pre-ems working well at the moment, topping up low level blackgrass fields with Liberator (where could not use "stacked " pre ems due to soil type/shallow drilling ). Give or take probably 80% drilled has been sprayed.

North East. Drier week only 3mm of rain, most farms have now completed their winter drillings.  A few poor drained fields have been too wet to work, from wet weather last week. Crops beginning to even out with previous dry areas germinating. Crops range from drilling to GS21.
Mildew: odd sightings: Seen in Skyfall and Reflection.
Aphids: none seen..
Gout fly: eggs seen.
Slugs: more slug activity seen this week in a few crops after OSR.
Blackgrass: more germination seen this week with moisture activating seed. Pre - emergent seem to be working well where applied.

Winter Oilseed Rape 

South. 5-9 true leaves – 75% of crops are around 5-6+ true leaves.
Phoma: a few more leaf spots now being found more widely this week (been seen in Campus, Flamingo, Picto and Amelie), otherwise still not evident at all in many crops. Plover being applied now to crops where Phoma being found, otherwise will wait until early November and use either Refinzar or Proline to give dual purpose control of Phoma and Light leaf spot
Flea beetle: adult activity appears to have declined, however we are already finding 2mm larvae now in quite a number of crops (some are at around 5 larvae/plant already). Would indicate an early egg hatch was underway 2 weeks ago. Pyrethroid being applied to crops where larvae are evident in petioles to try and prevent further larval invasion.
Slugs: most crops now beyond the point where slug grazing will be a problem.
Blackgrass: plans for Kerb/Astrokerb being put together – soil temperatures are still around 11oC at 30cms, and there is an 80mm soil moisture deficit, so soils are too warm and too dry for now.
Volunteer wheat: many min-tilled crops after wheat will need a second graminicide now as has been another significant flush of volunteers. Falcon (0.4-0.6lt/ha) been applied with 0.4-0.5lt Fusilade Max planned where second graminicide needed.

Eastern Counties. From 4 to 10 true leaves. Mostly farms have lost the crop due to drought. Dry in Essex, moist in Suffolk.
Phoma: none seen yet.
Aphids: no further aphids found.
Flea beetle: smaller plants still being bothered.
Slugs: very low levels.
Blackgrass: some coming now in hotspots. Big flush of cranesbill on one field in Suffolk, already at 1 true leaf. This crop has been destroyed.

East Midlands. Forward crops at 6-7 leaves but mainly crops at 3-4 leaves with later ones at 2-3 leaves. Some crops getting forward where slurry etc applied to fields before planting so will need an autumn PGR.
Phoma: just visible but not at threshold levels.
Club root: continues to be found where not seen before but not at high levels and machine cleanliness will be a necessity in these situations to prevent spread.
Flea beetle: activity dropping off.
Slugs: continue to be a problem on later crops.
Blackgrass: still emerging - Centurion Max at 3 leaf of grass, early applied working well.

West Midlands. Majority of crops are now growing well with ground cover approaching 70% plus for many crops, some crops at 100% ground cover. Last sown crop (mid september has 3-4 true leaves).
Phoma: just starting to come in now still nowhere near 10% threshold. Proline (0.35l/ha) on big crops, Refinzar ( 0.5l/ha ) on crops that are late sown or on light land and not growing vigorously.
Club root: more crops pulled up this week due to this disease.
Alternaria: some found in crops in SW of region.
Flea beetle: very very low.
Slugs: mainly OK, but can see having a good go on lower leaves on biggish crops.
Blackgrass: emerging on the earlier sown crops - Centurion Max applications as of mid/end of next week .

North East. Crops range from 2 - 7 leaf. Good growing conditions.
Phoma: odd lesion seen on Picto.
Leaf minor: becoming apparent in some crops.
Slugs: some problem areas in some fields, control achieved. Many crops moving ahead of slug risk
Blackgrass: variable results from graminicides, new blackgrass emerging in some fields.

Winter Barley.

South. All Winter barley fields drilled, with earliest sown crops now at GS13-21+. Some reports of mildew developing now in Glacier where sown in sheltered fertile locations and on sandy soil types.
Eastern. From just chitting to GS12. Very similar to the wheat crops. Still mainly dry on heavier, cobbly  land, lighter land has now got a little moisture. Blackgrass emerging in hotspots where moisture has fallen, traditionally  bad areas now emerging thickly, very worst areas will be destroyed.
West Midlands. All crops in , majority will be sprayed by the end of this week , most forward crops have 2 tillers. Have a fair area that has only 2 true leaves and probably 10-15% that won't be up until end of next week earliest.
East Midlands. 95% of the crop now drilled. Forward crops at GS 21 and later drilled crops at GS 11.
North East.  Drillings to GS 12. Odd bit of slug damage seen.