Small OSR plants

[Jerry]

How small is too small at this stage, have some WOSR that never really go going in the autumn. The plants are there but they are small, leaf area about the size of a 10p.

It is a hybrid, one of the Clearfield herbicide resistant varieties new to the market.

They will be getting 135kg of Nitram this week to all the rape hoping that gives them a shot in the arm.

Weed pressure is low at this stage but I am worried the weeds make an issue later.

 

[franklin]

Pull a few up and look at the roots. I am spreading tomorrow on plants that look small, but the roots are down deep enough. Given that they havent had a fungicide or insecticide so far, I am pleased they are still alive. Will be slug pelletting too and getting new gas gun (

 

[Andy26]

This article may be of interest @Jerry

http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/20/02...rd-before-ploughing-in-oilseed-rape-crops.htm

 

[Jerry]

Thanks both

Will do dig up a few plants later to have a look see, will get some pictures as well.

Useful article as well.

 

[JACK F]

All very interesting. Reading and chatting to various people will go and stick 50n on 30 acres I had written off at the start of the week. Some patches I sure will fail but even if get parts of the field to a crop think it will be as good as fallow or spring beans. Had kerb so cereals not an option and everything else will cause more aggravation at harvest time which may lead onto making next years crop establishment more pressured. Been a long long time since farming has seemed anything like straight forward !!!

 

[Feldspar]

I was at an Agrii talk today with Philip Marr. His message was that you can get good (over 2 t/ac) yields with plant populations of 6 plants /sq m. Key thing to look at are the roots. If the root is 1 inch long it's a no goer; if they're 3 inches then they'll be fine. Look also not just at the tap root but the feeder roots as well. He said get 50 kg N /ha and some sulphates on now, then another dose 10 days later and then another 10 days after that.

 

[farming4profit]

I would agree plants the size of a 10p are fine subject the roots. I've had seed crops at the same stage do 36cwts before. You will however need to pay extra attention to pollen beetle control during green bud as there will be fewer per square metre so pest intensity likely to be greater. Rape's ability to compensate is phenomenal. Sesame at less than 10 plants/m last year came top of trials on light land in Suffolk.

 

[franklin]

I would be happier with much of mine if the BG and volunteers looked a bit more dead And the slugs would go away ( And the pigeons leave it along ((

 

[Jerry]

A couple of pics from earlier today, a typical small plant and a typical large one:

 

[farming4profit]

The rooting looks fine to me and relative to the plant above ground. Decent laterals too. What of the growing points? From the first picture it's not too clear if the growing point is Alive. Also it's noticeable that the roots of the smaller plants have been chewed about 1cm below the growing point. Fertiliser and a bit of sunshine ought to do the trick.