Spring wheat

Handy Andy

Member
Location
Wiltshire
We've just taken on a bit of extra ground which was in temporary grass. I've sprayed it off last week and it's starting to die off but it's going to be a bit late to put in any winter wheat by the time it's ready to plough in. I could put in spring barley behind it but would prefer to plant wheat.
Is spring wheat viable on Cotswold brash if planted early enough, or would I be better off sticking with barley?
Nobody grows it round here nowadays but I can remember some farmers growing it in the eighties / early nineties and it was always very late to come off.
 
We've just taken on a bit of extra ground which was in temporary grass. I've sprayed it off last week and it's starting to die off but it's going to be a bit late to put in any winter wheat by the time it's ready to plough in. I could put in spring barley behind it but would prefer to plant wheat.
Is spring wheat viable on Cotswold brash if planted early enough, or would I be better off sticking with barley?
Nobody grows it round here nowadays but I can remember some farmers growing it in the eighties / early nineties and it was always very late to come off.

It will grow fine but get it in early as you can. Certainly no later than the end of March.

High seed rate on your presumably bony dirt and pray it rains plenty enough to keep it watered.

It still isn't too late for winter wheat up your way! Panorama or something?
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
It will grow fine but get it in early as you can. Certainly no later than the end of March.

High seed rate on your presumably bony dirt and pray it rains plenty enough to keep it watered.

It still isn't too late for winter wheat up your way! Panorama or something?

Growing it isn't the problem ,cutting it off is .
 

Gong Farmer

Member
BASIS
Location
S E Glos
If you can get it in this month I'd still plant winter rather than spring wheat, but spring wheat will do well enough. Autumn planted it behaves like winter wheat anyway so a lot of the associated problems mentioned above aren't seen.
 

Iben

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fife
If you can get it in this month I'd still plant winter rather than spring wheat, but spring wheat will do well enough. Autumn planted it behaves like winter wheat anyway so a lot of the associated problems mentioned above aren't seen.

Why does winter sowing reduce ergot %?
 

Gong Farmer

Member
BASIS
Location
S E Glos
I could be wrong but I assume it's like blossom midge, fusarium etc, it's the time of flowering and so susceptibility to infection. All I know from my own experience is if you plant spring wheat in autumn it's no different to a winter crop. Differences between the two come from time of sowing not name of the crop.
 
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I could be wrong but i assume it's like blossom midge, fusarium etc, it's the time of flowering and so susceptibility to infection. All I know from my own experience is if you plant spring wheat in autumn it's no different to a winter crop. Differences between the two come from time of sowing not name of the crop.

That is what I believed to be the case. In the summer of 2012, none of the spring wheats, drilled at the typical time, got fusarium.
 

Jim Bullock

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Nobody has mentioned gout fly. It can decimate a crop cutting the yield to less than 1 ton/ha. We have been growing Spring wheat for a number of years and the yield is very variable (from 7.5 tons/ha down to less than a ton) It always gets ergot no matter where it is grown in the rotation. We have usually sold ours for feed so it is less of an issue.
I am not sure it's much good in the fight against BG as you have very little chemistry available, it's not very competitive. Our early drilled crops have usually been full of BG.
However we will be growing some next year on land where we have little BG, and we can get on reasonable early.
 

franklin

New Member
Why does winter sowing reduce ergot %?

Also, better rooting / rooted plants less stressed. Spring wheat roots are pretty bobbins, and add to this the open flowering nature. Now, when the find a medicinal use for blackgrass and ergot I will right in front of the spring wheat queue.
 
Nobody has mentioned gout fly. It can decimate a crop cutting the yield to less than 1 ton/ha. We have been growing Spring wheat for a number of years and the yield is very variable (from 7.5 tons/ha down to less than a ton) It always gets ergot no matter where it is grown in the rotation. We have usually sold ours for feed so it is less of an issue.
I am not sure it's much good in the fight against BG as you have very little chemistry available, it's not very competitive. Our early drilled crops have usually been full of BG.
However we will be growing some next year on land where we have little BG, and we can get on reasonable early.

Only gout fly attack I have seen was behind old grass? Do they attack cereals 'just because'?
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
I see Gout FLy damaged ears every year. Was particularly noticeable in 2016 when around 25% of ears were 'gouted' with very few viable grains. Have tried multiple pyrethroid and still get damage. 2016 it was also badly affected by BYDV. When I cast my mind back 30 years or so when Spring Wheat was not grown that much but was popped in after late harvested Brussel Sprouts do not recall seeing ergot or Gour FLy damage.
 
Location
Cheshire
Also, better rooting / rooted plants less stressed. Spring wheat roots are pretty bobbins, and add to this the open flowering nature. Now, when the find a medicinal use for blackgrass and ergot I will right in front of the spring wheat queue.

There is a medicinal use for ergot, but I think they have enough.
 

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