07 June 2013. A warmer and sunnier week has helped crops develop and early sown winter wheat crops are now at ear emergence. Field work has progressed well and most winter wheat T2 fungicides have been applied. Winter oilseed rape crops are still showing a lot of variation in growth stages but the earlier flowering crops are now close to full petal fall. Winter barley crops are now mainly at full ear emergence. Spring barley ranges from GS 30 to flag leaf emerging.

• Orange blossom midge caught in traps in NE
• Earliest winter wheat at full ear emergence
• Fusarium ear blight risk high
• Watch out for gout fly in spring cereals
• Sugar beet establishment problems continue

Winter Wheat flowering dates

The table shows the dates that flowering was first recorded from previous years crop reports. 2011 crops were particularly early in part as a result of drought stress. However, the first week of June is normally when winter wheat crops first begin to flower so we are roughly a week later than normal now as early sown crops are expected to start flowering next week. So that's just in time to coincide with the forecasted change in the weather.

Winter Wheat

South. A combination of warmer days and plenty of sunshine have encouraged accelerated growth, with  many autumn sown wheat crops now almost caught up in terms of growth stage, with flag-leaves typically fully emerged and ears up to 2/3 emerged in some crops. In particular, September and early October sown Gallant, Cordiale and Solstice typically have ears 1/3-2/3 emerged on main shoots. Other varieties sown before the end of October range between GS37-39 with flag leaves fully  emerged on main shoots and ears splitting the boot.  Later autumn sown crops are  around GS37-39. Crops sown in January/February are typically between GS31-32 with tip of leaf 2 emerging on main shoots. Soils beginning to rapidly dry out at surface, and some varieties/patches within fields are showing leaf curling on warmer afternoons –some rain next week would be useful otherwise areas of poor rooting etc will begin to suffer badly.
T2 Applications on autumn sown crops now mostly been completed and have been based primarily around Adexar or Aviator on better crops or Epoxiconazole + Bravo + Strobilurin on poorer and more backward crops. With accelerated development now and clean canopies, some poorer crops are being targeted with a T2.5 application of Aviator when ears are 2/3 emerged – this will be followed up with a later T3 if required.
Mildew: controlled by T2 fungicides.
Yellow rust: none seen
Brown rust: none seen
Septoria tritici: some relatively high levels of infection are evident on leaf 5 and below in September sown wheats. Some infection has also been noted on the tip of Leaf 2 in October sown Gallant and Solstice - otherwise most wheats are still have virtually no infection on the top 4 leaves.
Eyespot:stem based browning and some eyespot lesions now showing.
Weed control: blackgrass control showing mixed results.

Eastern Counties. Majority of wheat crops are booting with the ears emerging on the more forward crops. T2 fungicides are now on most crops.
Mildew: trace levels.
Septoria tritici: trace levels on lower leaves.
Yellow rust: none seen.
Brown rust: none seen.
Eyespot: stem browning and eyespot more visible now.
Weed control: there is a lot of bindweed, knotgrass, fat hen and charlock coming through late.

East Midlands. Most crops have the flag leaf emerged.
Mildew: very low levels mainly at stem base.
Septoria: top 5 leaves continue to remain fairly clean with the top 4 leaves very clean.
Yellow rust: no new sightings.
Brown rust: none seen.
Eyespot: levels are low with many stems clean.
Weed control: knotgrass and fat hen continue to dominate thin and bare areas. Wild oats now becoming more prominent.

West Midlands. September sown wheat crops now pushing ears out rapidly, Grafton in to sprint mode and overtaking the other varieties. Early October sown crops are now booting and later sown but pre Christmas wheats are all at Flag leaf emerged. Late winter sowings have now got leaf 2 fully out with the flag just beginning to show. Nothing in flower yet.
Mildew: has appeared in the bottom of quite a few crops over the last fortnight.
Septoria tritici: still confined to the bottom of the crop. Later sown crops are clean to the ground.
Yellow Rust: no fresh sightings.
Brown rust: none seen.
Fusarium/Eyespot: only at low levels.
Weed control: late flush of wild oats.

North East.  Most winter wheat now at GS 39-55. Booting and swelling in many crops. Crops remain shorter than usual and less PGR’s have been needed than commonly used. There is a wide variation in growth stages amongst plant tillers and main stem observed in some crops. Late winter wheat sown up to 5th March have vernalized OK.
Mildew: none seen
Septoria tritici: active on lower leaves of some varieties but still not moving up the crop.
Yellow rust: none seen.
Brown rust: none seen.
Orange blossom midge: odd ones caught in pheromone traps
Weed control: warmer weather bringing out early spring weeds.

Winter Oilseed Rape 

South. Around 50% of crops are now at late flower/pod set stage, with remaining crops still between early flowering and mid-flowering. Finally we are nearing the stage where the next operation will be desiccation.
Sclerotinia: conditions remain ideal for apothecia emergence and spore release. Proline+mbc mixes been applied at early flower, with follow up sprays 14-21 days later at mid-flower if likely to be another 2 weeks of flowering left.
Pollen beetle: panic over now that most crops are flowering.
Seed Weevil: only low levels now.

Eastern Counties. Some of the earliest crops have now lost nearly all their flowers while the pigeon damaged ones are now in full flower.
Sclerotinia: first flowering fungicide spray currently being applied to backward crops now in full flower. These crops will probably receive just the single application. Second application planned on the more forward crops has been delayed and has only just been applied a little later than planned due to backlog of work on other crops. The interval betwwen sclerotinia sprays has ended up being stretched to 4 weeks. Also the crops are rapidly coming out of flower and the flowering period is shorter than expected.
Seed Weevil: very few.
Weed control: thin poorly competitive crops are going to allow some weed problems to show through later. On light land some poppies will come through in thin crops.

East Midlands. All crops still in full flower. Some later patches still just starting to flower.
Seed weevil: no reports of major weevil numbers.
Sclerotinia: crops treated.
Weed control: reports of cleavers starting to recover after herbicides in thin areas where no crop competition, same with mayweed.

West Midlands. Crops range from mid flowering to petal fall with some of the earlier crops now turning predominantly green again. However, there are plants in most crops that still range from green buds on lower racemes and pod set on upper racemes.
Pollen beetle: still hard to find.
Seed Weevil: numbers remain very low.
Sclerotinia: petal fall starting and petals sticking to crop.


North East. Crops now range from mid to late flowering. Crops are shorter this year especially in backward plantings.
Pollen beetle: odd beetle seen in crops at green bud, but levels much lower than previous years.
Seed Weevil: none seen.

Winter Barley

South: crops are now generally at ears emerged, but still around 7-10 days behind normal. All crops remain short, even Volume, consequently very few have had late PGR’s applied. T2 applications have all been completed and disease levels remain very low. No further action until the combine arrives!
East: crops are fully out in ear now.
East Midlands: awns emerging and T2 on so now gates shut. Crops remain clear of all diseases and look generally well but a bit short.
West Midlands: ears fully emerged in most crops. Disease levels remain low.
North East: most crops at ear emergence and have improved in appearance.

Sugar beet
Some of the problems with establishment are showing up more clearly as differences between seed treatments, seed dressings and varieties in fields where there are comparisons side by side. The differences are very evident in terms of plant number but unravelling the causes is complex.

The recent warm spell has helped to encourage growth but this is a very backward year for canopy development in beet! On the whole weed control has been good we are now tidying up cleavers, volunteer potatoes and thistles and inspecting fields for any fresh weed emergence. Volunteer oilseed rape had continued to emerge in some crops and we must be particularly vigilant where the stands are gappy.

Tractor hoeing is in full swing in the current dry conditions.

Spring Cereals

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