Before. Seemed less the night after and TBH made up my mind not to spray again so not been to look again I think mine is far enough ahead to survive but it’s getting severely damaged.
2018 - Flea beetle attacks in OSR
- Thread starter jkw1706
- Start date
there is almost total resistance so why people bother to spray is beyond me. the same people going on twitter talking about how farming should be science led are the same people doing a completely unscientific thing by spraying for no reason.
for added hypocrisy these are probably the same farmers who have been bollocksing on about all the environmental stuff they do on their farms.
for added hypocrisy these are probably the same farmers who have been bollocksing on about all the environmental stuff they do on their farms.
This is the ONLY way to grow OSR in mist of the uk any more - any other approach is simply madness of the absolute maddest kind
Yet so many still line up to spend £1000’s on seed and then apply sprays we know don’t work and in fact just make other issues like slugs worse !
I dispare some days. It’s like watching lemmings !
If this industry was a person I would throw a glass of cold water in its face, slap it hard and tell it to wake the f
@! up before it’s too late !- Location
- South Cambs
Numbers not as high as 2016 here, yet. This photo was taken 26/09/2016, funnily enough this field didn't survive.
just a thought , if theres nothing for the flea beetle to eat they die. so would the logical thing not be for southern farmers to stop growing brassicas for a year or 2 decimate the population that way by starvation if nothing else will work.... seems the complete definition of madness to keep doing the same thing over n over and expect different results
On a grass farm we can not grow forage rape or turnips for 10 years and they always appear no rape grown for 5 miles .!
They live in the hedges and survive on something.
They will happily eat charlock, too (although they seem to prefer newly emerging OSR).
Don’t agree with the ‘lemmings’ stuff. I know plenty who m normally home save but couldn’t due to Erucic acid problems (even where new seed was bought and planted). Plus the fact that in the past to the south and west generally flea beetle haven’t been such a problem as they have this year. I suspect that next year, some may change their approach and adopt the strategy that many of you in the East are used to, of drilling 10 kg/ha off the heap, and if it fails, you’ll have another go, or just give up and plant something else.
We desperately need more research and a serious strategy for our plans to combat this pest. At the moment it just seems to be coming down to luck and whether we get intermittent rain after drilling to keep them down and the rape growing.
Don’t agree with the ‘lemmings’ stuff. I know plenty who m normally home save but couldn’t due to Erucic acid problems (even where new seed was bought and planted). Plus the fact that in the past to the south and west generally flea beetle haven’t been such a problem as they have this year. I suspect that next year, some may change their approach and adopt the strategy that many of you in the East are used to, of drilling 10 kg/ha off the heap, and if it fails, you’ll have another go, or just give up and plant something else.
We desperately need more research and a serious strategy for our plans to combat this pest. At the moment it just seems to be coming down to luck and whether we get intermittent rain after drilling to keep them down and the rape growing.
- Location
- West Suffolk
Are cover crops exabarating the problem? Or is it just weather conditions are perfect for them?
We had some volunteer rape in a field of spuds we’ve hired and they were getting hammered right from the start this year. The plants did keep going though. Although I guess they wouldn’t have made a commercial crop yield.
A neighbour hired his field out to a grower who had rape on it last year. He left the self sets on there this year and harvested it. It didn’t have any sprays at all, only round up at the end. This would be a perfect host crop would it not?
We had some volunteer rape in a field of spuds we’ve hired and they were getting hammered right from the start this year. The plants did keep going though. Although I guess they wouldn’t have made a commercial crop yield.
A neighbour hired his field out to a grower who had rape on it last year. He left the self sets on there this year and harvested it. It didn’t have any sprays at all, only round up at the end. This would be a perfect host crop would it not?
This is the ONLY way to grow OSR in mist of the uk any more - any other approach is simply madness of the absolute maddest kind
Yet so many still line up to spend £1000’s on seed and then apply sprays we know don’t work and in fact just make other issues like slugs worse !
I dispare some days. It’s like watching lemmings !
If this industry was a person I would throw a glass of cold water in its face, slap it hard and tell it to wake the f
Agreed this is the first time in ages I’m not growing a hybrid so I can save the seed( if I get a crop ! )
Why pay the royalty if it fails , surely the royalty gets paid later in the year when you know it’s ,ade it or not ?
Wow
I don't think that's how it works officially........ Think about it, if you bought fresh seed the royalty is paid before you ever put it in the ground, regardless whether you get a crop or not. I think @warksfarmer was covering himself....
Sorry never made it clear , if buying new seed than of coarse royalties would be included in the price but @warksfarmer farm saves seed and therefore why pay the royalty before the crops made it.
- Location
- S E Glos
[Stock reply to such a question] Try it, let us know how you get on.
And i'm saying what you are saying is sensible but not how the royalty system works as I understand it, ie you are supposed to declare it even if the crop fails.
Try a bit. They don't like the firmer less cloddy areas either do they?
Edit- @Fromebridge we were thinking the same.....
Bit like paying for interest even thou you never took the loan then
Seed (10kgs) is about 35p/ha here so far but no one has sent me a bill - it’s not just about the cost its about cashflow and risk managment as well
Farm saved seed declaration is done early new year - I will pay the £10/ha then, that is the only bill seed generates and it’s not a lot of money
Iif I had to re drill because of CSFB or slug I will not pay twice - the declaration asks how many Ha I am growing - you can choose to pay per kg seed but per ha is cheaper at higher seed rates and doesn’t charge you for a failed crop. In January as always we honestly declare how many ha we are growing ........ at that point . If a field got drilled twice I still have the same number of ha OSR to pay royalty on the seed rate is just now 20kgs not 10kg and the declaration is per Ha
I can’t imagine anyone would fill in a FSS declaration in January if they had no OSR growing, if winter beans etc had replaced failed OSR at that piont then it would be bean seed I paid the royalty on instead. Would anyone really pay OSR royalty x2 plus bean royalty x1 at that point ..... I doubt it !
Can’t see any argument that it would be right to pay more than one lot of royalty / ha in any single harvest year. Royalty is paid on what you grow not what you are not growing
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