2019 Beet area

[Flat 10]

I think I'm younger than @Flat 10 and I still call them fieldsman.

Want to bet??!??!? I would leave 5 days until you apply teppeki.

 

[Flat 10]

Don't hold me to it but I think bayer will support a tank mix of biscaya and c max.

My thinking is go biscaya in 3 to 5 days. I'm now a bit worried about what will happen to my beet now. I sprayed them this morning starting at 3.30 and finished at about 8 but it's really scorching hot now and very bright with a predicted max temp of 29c!!!!!

I don't know whether I dare carry on with the teppeki now in the heat. I couldn't face getting up that early !

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Got back from holiday at 3am this morning, had a drive around earlier just looking at our crops from the road. Unbelievable amount of small insects hitting the windscreen, Whether they were greenfly I don’t know? Beet are touching the rows in places, but still some half as big in the heavy bits.

 

[robbie]

Want to bet??!??!? I would leave 5 days until you apply teppeki.

Oh apologies. I don't know why I just assumed you were.

Got back from holiday at 3am this morning, had a drive around earlier just looking at our crops from the road. Unbelievable amount of small insects hitting the windscreen, Whether they were greenfly I don’t know? Beet are touching the rows in places, but still some half as big in the heavy bits.

I'm really not liking the idea of using the tepeki/biscaya. My beet are alive with ladybirds and all manner of other ground beetles and parasitic wasps ect and it just seems madness to go through and nuke them all. I think one hit will see the beet through so I'll go with tepeki which is supposed to be kinder.

 

[nick...]

No offence guys, but reading this thread makes me wonder why you grow the damn stuff? If you grow it you're feeding the shareholders of a monopoly with no grower care whatsoever, you're bend over a barrel by them on whatever pittance of a price they think you'll still grow it for, and everything is out to harm the crop in nature anyway?

At least with oilseed rape you're not destroying your soils, roads & drains growing it & you can spend your winters shooting pigeons instead of watching your best topsoil all over the roads & disappearing to the factory.

Why?????

This is the most sensible post in this thread
Nick...

 

[DrWazzock]

Yields are consistently better than they used to be though. I'd be disappointed not to get over 80 tonnes per hectare here even on our dodgy grade 3. The tops, which we still remove with knife and feeler wheel, (not smashed up) are as good as a crop of barley for fattening store lambs and save the grass getting a hammering in winter.

You have to maximise inter enterprise synergies to make a small farm work, as a consultant would say.

 

[alomy75]

Don't hold me to it but I think bayer will support a tank mix of biscaya and c max.

My thinking is go biscaya in 3 to 5 days. I'm now a bit worried about what will happen to my beet now. I sprayed them this morning starting at 3.30 and finished at about 8 but it's really scorching hot now and very bright with a predicted max temp of 29c!!!!!

Bayer don’t: Arysta do (Centurion people) physical compatibility only, not biological

 

[robbie]

Bayer don’t: Arysta do (Centurion people) physical compatibility only, not biological

Thats it. I didn't really take a lot of notice to be far as I've never used c max.

 

[Laggard]

For those that have sprayed an insecticide, either Biscaya or Tepeki or both, what are your aphid numbers after spraying and have many people sprayed twice or three times yet? Any beneficials still evident?

 

[spin cycle]

think i've had my leg lifted for beet chem....what ppl paying for shield...sniper...target?

 

[robbie]

Shield and sniper are around £95 can. Don't know about target.

 

[Laggard]

Good to see some young ladybirds in the beet tonight.

 

[Hindsight]

Good to see some young ladybirds in the beet tonight.

Great picture. Has the crop received any insecticide yet? If so which one

 

[Laggard]

Great picture. Has the crop received any insecticide yet? If so which one

No insecticide yet.

 

[farmerfred86]

For those that have sprayed an insecticide, either Biscaya or Tepeki or both, what are your aphid numbers after spraying and have many people sprayed twice or three times yet? Any beneficials still evident?

I've found biscaya application (exactly as per label) to have given poor results. I can still find too many tiny green aphids in the leaf curled edges. This is what really hurts - the same product when applied precisely in a seed dressing giving good control and not harming beneficials is far better practice than what we are now being forced to do.

I actually wish we hadn't applied given the low virus levels found in aphids so far but you cant really chance it. Its too late when virus is found by the BBRO a week after testing in your area!

 

[Hindsight]

Is everyone leaving untreated strips for comparison later in the season.

 

[DrWazzock]

No insecticide applied here yet. I did buy a pack of tepeki but it's still in the store warding of the aphids like a charm, conforming to the usual rule that if you pay for it you won't need it, but if you haven't got it you'll need it Friday night on bank holiday weekend.

Can hardly find an aphid and we are next to a wood on a mixed farm. Maybe there are enough beneficials to keep them down. Maybe it's because we min tilled it into stubble? Or maybe we are just lucky.

Certainly don't want to spray unless it's absolutely necessary.

The mintilled beet always seems look a lot better than when we plough. Soil doesn't slump or dry out at depth. Fert doesn't go down too deep to be of benefit to the early stages of the plant.

 

[Hindsight]

I've found biscaya application (exactly as per label) to have given poor results. I can still find too many tiny green aphids in the leaf curled edges. This is what really hurts - the same product when applied precisely in a seed dressing giving good control and not harming beneficials is far better practice than what we are now being forced to do.

I actually wish we hadn't applied given the low virus levels found in aphids so far but you cant really chance it. Its too late when virus is found by the BBRO a week after testing in your area!

I have a suspicion that we will get to the end of the season and find that having applied no insecticide will be the correct decision. In meantime agronomists (indies and tied) and supply companies will be much troubled, not by sales, but by ensuring their clients crops are no yellower than anybody elses. So I expect most will receive some form of insecticide, so that box can be ticked before or as the crop gets to 12 true leaves. Biscaya I gather does have some negative activity on beneficials, how much an dhow quickly they recover have no idea, so would not surprise me to find more virus in September where used than where left. I gather Teppeki has a kinder profile on non aphid species. Oh what a disaster. Hope everyone leaves some untreated strips, so in cold light of autumn we can assess whether treatment was required or not and the effect.

 

[robbie]

I don't know what to do.

On Saturday my beet reached the threshold for aphids. I sprayed them with herb on Saturday morning and wanted to wait a few days before hitting them again with biscaya/tepeki.

It's wet today and the next couple of days ill be tied up with the baler but I've just had a look at them and they've really motored on anf are probably at or beyond 12 leaves. Is it worth spraying-which I don't want to do unless essential or do i leave then to it????

 

[Fiveospades]

Has anyone else heard rumours of the beet price down to as little as17.00 per ton. I hope that they are rumours only otherwise it will be the beginning of the end of the UK beet industry. Rising input costs, risk of limited pest control, and risk of land damage will make up the minds of many growers.