Going forward with Oilseed Rape.

DrWazzock · Jul 8, 2020

What we are looking at has been tried already. It’s organic farming. A niche sector that can’t compete with conventionally produced foreign imports and if those imports stopped it probably couldn’t feed our population anyway.
While I’ll keep trying to reduce pesticide usage. I think that we need to be very careful we don’t end up commercially unviable due to low yields and poor quality.
Back to the thread, the only way I can see of getting a crop of OSR is a Rolls Royce seedbed in late August, so a fine seedbed, uniform depth, good seed to soil contact and hope for some rain. I think the days of chucking the seed onto a straw mat saturated with residuals between clay boulders then crashing over it with the rolls are long gone. You might getaway with that approach but it adds to risk. Flea beetle love a rough seedbed and dry weather in my experience. So if I grow it I’ll plough in late august and drill right behind the plough. N but no preems in the seedbed.
maybe just one last try but I’ll want to know the crack with the seed price deal. I have no home saved seed and aren’t going to break law. If I have to pay top whack for new seed and take all the risk then forget it.

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

https://www.agweb.com/article/skeptical-farmers-monster-message-profitability

this article, and this guys view totally sums up the way I have been thinking and heading, and why I keep banging on the same message that some are probably finding very tiresome by now. Fantastic stuff.

Flat 10 · Jul 8, 2020

ajd132 said:
https://www.agweb.com/article/skeptical-farmers-monster-message-profitability

this article, and this guys view totally sums up the way I have been thinking and heading, and why I keep banging on the same message that some are probably finding very tiresome by now. Fantastic stuff.

Interesting thanks. Good on him. Not organic or no insecticide which is interesting.

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

Flat 10 said:
Interesting thanks. Good on him. Not organic or no insecticide which is interesting.

It’s a pretty sensible approach I think without going beserk in either direction.

Flat 10 · Jul 8, 2020

ajd132 said:
It’s a pretty sensible approach I think without going beserk in either direction.

Yes. And he's not too preachey.......

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

Flat 10 said:
Yes. And he's not too preachey.......

If you preach it puts everyone off and puts you at a competitive advantage ?

ZXR17 · Jul 8, 2020

ajd132 said:
View attachment 892583
just started cutting osr, the amount of ladybirds is unbelievable. Probably built up due to mealy aphids. Not many flea beetles. Insecticide free.

?

ajd132 said:
View attachment 892583
just started cutting osr, the amount of ladybirds is unbelievable. Probably built up due to mealy aphids. Not many flea beetles. Insecticide free.

Not sure that the amount of ladybirds is solely
due to your farming practices this year .
I have never seen so many ladybirds in my crops as there are this season , cereals and pulses .
My peas and beans are in areas of failed osr which had had ' robust ' insecticide treatments in the autumn .
The peas have had an application of aphox and are still alive with ladybirds .
The beans are literally black with black fly to the level that they are throttling the life out of the plants despite also being alive with ladybirds .I had been relying on the ladybirds keeping them in check but they are not keeping up with the explosion in numbers so will be getting some ' help ' if the wind ever drops .
Most years my osr store is also alive with earwigs to the point that I almost expect to get complaints from the buyers .
I think this year's dry hot spring has been the perfect insect breeding season .

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

ZXR17 said:
?

Not sure that the amount of ladybirds is solely
due to your farming practices this year .
I have never seen so many ladybirds in my crops as there are this season , cereals and pulses .
My peas and beans are in areas of failed osr which had had ' robust ' insecticide treatments in the autumn .
The peas have had an application of aphox and are still alive with ladybirds .
The beans are literally black with black fly to the level that they are throttling the life out of the plants despite also being alive with ladybirds .I had been relying on the ladybirds keeping them in check but they are not keeping up with the explosion in numbers so will be getting some ' help ' if the wind ever drops .
Most years my osr store is also alive with earwigs to the point that I almost expect to get complaints from the buyers .
I think this year's dry hot spring has been the perfect insect breeding season .

I think it’s a case of supply and demand. Loads of mealy aphid this year in the osr means loads of ladybirds. Also more seed weevil than flea beetle. The trailer was alive with all kinds of insects. My view just let them get on with it. Not spraying insecticides must help though.

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

ZXR17 said:
?

Not sure that the amount of ladybirds is solely
due to your farming practices this year .
I have never seen so many ladybirds in my crops as there are this season , cereals and pulses .
My peas and beans are in areas of failed osr which had had ' robust ' insecticide treatments in the autumn .
The peas have had an application of aphox and are still alive with ladybirds .
The beans are literally black with black fly to the level that they are throttling the life out of the plants despite also being alive with ladybirds .I had been relying on the ladybirds keeping them in check but they are not keeping up with the explosion in numbers so will be getting some ' help ' if the wind ever drops .
Most years my osr store is also alive with earwigs to the point that I almost expect to get complaints from the buyers .
I think this year's dry hot spring has been the perfect insect breeding season .

One thing I will add is that we havnt grown rape since the neonic ban and I don’t remmeber there every being this amount of insects in the crop back then

Spencer · Jul 8, 2020

Sometimes you see what you want to...

ollie989898 · Jul 8, 2020

chipchap said:
Very interesting comments everybody. It seems harvest 2021 will be considerably light in rapeseed.

There will be other crops grown for oil, in the UK, Europe or worldwide that will soon plug that gap.

Sunflowers, linseed, palm oil, soyabeans. It's all out there being grown somewhere.

Breeding or companion crops will have to pick up the baton from now on.

ZXR17 · Jul 8, 2020

Agree to a point . It's good you have osr worth cutting . How is it yielding ?
Also in the peas and beans are a few spring grown volunteer osr plants the size of dinner plates without a sign of any insect damage , they couldn't look healthier . What's that all about ?

Brisel · Jul 8, 2020

ajd132 said:
One thing I will add is that we havnt grown rape since the neonic ban and I don’t remmeber there every being this amount of insects in the crop back then

I've been growing it for years and always had insects in the sample even when I was regularly using foliar insecticides with most of the spray passes plus neonic seed dressings. The crop yield was higher back then too, but flea beetle were dealt with cheaply and quickly. Last years osr heap was crawling with flea beetles.

I'm still happy to see ladybirds in the sample though

ajd132 · Jul 8, 2020

ZXR17 said:
Agree to a point . It's good you have osr worth cutting . How is it yielding ?
Also in the peas and beans are a few spring grown volunteer osr plants the size of dinner plates without a sign of any insect damage , they couldn't look healthier . What's that all about ?

going okay 3-3.5. Not a good year for osr in terms of growing conditions. It’s costing us half the amount to grow this time than in the past though. Bigger area planned.

DrWazzock · Jul 8, 2020

I think on balance and sticking to my new guiding principle of only doing things that stand a reasonable chance of working without having to bust a gut or spend a fortune, I will drill stubble turnips for the lambs instead. Much lower cost and risk and a good intro for direct drilled spring barley which is also easy and works. A winter cover crop and a good stock feed. Also seems to clean the land of all sorts of troublesome weeds, like black grass brome and cranesbill which are difficult and expensive to deal with in OSR.

Jo28 · Jul 9, 2020

Reading the United oilseeds book this morning and it says that accacia has a high vigour score of 7.1 according to ahdb trials. How come I can't find vigour scores for all varieties on the recommended list if the ahdb have the info?? Anyone have any literature for vigour scores? Cheers

ollie989898 · Jul 9, 2020

Brisel said:
I've been growing it for years and always had insects in the sample even when I was regularly using foliar insecticides with most of the spray passes plus neonic seed dressings. The crop yield was higher back then too, but flea beetle were dealt with cheaply and quickly. Last years osr heap was crawling with flea beetles.

I'm still happy to see ladybirds in the sample though

I remember seeing OSR heaped up and it would normally be alive with beetles and lady birds after harvest and that was when chemistry worked and you had dusrban and all sorts to use.

ajd132 · Jul 9, 2020

ollie989898 said:
I remember seeing OSR heaped up and it would normally be alive with beetles and lady birds after harvest and that was when chemistry worked and you had dusrban and all sorts to use.

What I find encouraging is the amount of insects but no hordes of flea beetles walking out the store like many report most years

ollie989898 · Jul 9, 2020

ajd132 said:
What I find encouraging is the amount of insects but no hordes of flea beetles walking out the store like many report most years

I think the ones I used to see were probably pollen beetle or something else as they didn't jump around IIRC, lots of ground beetles, too.

Devon James · Jul 9, 2020

Any opinions on Flamingo osr? We have Aspire in the ground that planned to use for fss but had a good report on the flamingo being a quick developer?

Going forward with Oilseed Rape.

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