2019 Beet area

[farmerfred86]

AD plants make beet work at £20/t. There is no point in growing for BS below 20 when you have a better market.

 

[spin cycle]

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.

the beginning of the end was many years ago IMO.....it's death thoes IMO

 

[alomy75]

Our 3 year contract runs out harvest of the 2020 drilled crop. The £17 is a myth; like someone said it started doing the rounds weeks ago; waaay too early to be legit. Been seeing lots of dead ladybirds post Biscaya treatment...

 

[spin cycle]

Our 3 year contract runs out harvest of the 2020 drilled crop. The £17 is a myth; like someone said it started doing the rounds weeks ago; waaay too early to be legit. Been seeing lots of dead ladybirds post Biscaya treatment...View attachment 806734

thats very sad...killing ladybirds for a crop not worth growing

 

[Spud]

AD plants make beet work at £20/t. There is no point in growing for BS below 20 when you have a better market.

I'd want a touch more than £20 - late delivery bonus on this year's beet will average about £2/t, and my adjusted tonnage is usually above dirty weight.

Obviously were subsidising the haulage a bit, so there's a bit of slack both ways

 

[farmerfred86]

Next year we will use tepekki first to protect beneficials. Only if desperate before the 12 leaf stage will we consider Biscaya again. Poor results here.
Bloody short sighted enviro lobby, what a crazy situation!

 

[Laggard]

What’s the latest on virus yellow? Anybody got symptoms showing yet and if so did you spray? Haven’t sprayed here yet, nailbitting.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Next year we will use tepekki first to protect beneficials. Only if desperate before the 12 leaf stage will we consider Biscaya again. Poor results here.
Bloody short sighted enviro lobby, what a crazy situation!

True but sadly, if we complain they will just ban what we have.

 

[DrWazzock]

What’s the latest on virus yellow? Anybody got symptoms showing yet and if so did you spray? Haven’t sprayed here yet, nailbitting.

Haven't sprayed here yet either. Either the rain or ladybirds have kept them off or I need a new pair of glasses.

At 12 leaf, rows covered in and can't see any yellowing.

On the downside this 4" of water has slumped the soil somewhat, even though it was not ploughed or pulverised and the beet have that "my roots are suffocating" look about them, where the leaves become much more upright. Either that or free living nematodes have come up with the water table and are chewing the root hairs off. Always seems to go that way in that field. Witchcraft I reckon.

 

[DrWazzock]

Since the 4" of rain, now lower leaves wilting and yellowing quite seriously despite plenty of soil moisture. Younger leaves very upright as if the plant is under stress. Lost vigour and slowed growth rate markedly. Looks a bit yellow all over the field whereas before the rain it looked very green and healthy. Worse on the sand. Much greener on the heavy land and next to wheelings. What's going on? Soil slump? Nematodes? I think I will ring the fieldsman. Did all I could to minimise slumping risk. Very light power Harrow and drilled into land that was subsoiled in the autumn. Have had similar problems in the past in this field with both early ploughed and late ploughed soil. Limed it in the autumn. pH ok.

 

[robbie]

Whack some MN on them.

 

[DrWazzock]

Whack some MN on them.

Will do. They had Mn Mg and boron about a week before the rain but it's probably gone now.

 

[farmerfred86]

Since the 4" of rain, now lower leaves wilting and yellowing quite seriously despite plenty of soil moisture. Younger leaves very upright as if the plant is under stress. Lost vigour and slowed growth rate markedly. Looks a bit yellow all over the field whereas before the rain it looked very green and healthy. Worse on the sand. Much greener on the heavy land and next to wheelings. What's going on? Soil slump? Nematodes? I think I will ring the fieldsman. Did all I could to minimise slumping risk. Very light power Harrow and drilled into land that was subsoiled in the autumn. Have had similar problems in the past in this field with both early ploughed and late ploughed soil. Limed it in the autumn. pH ok.

Sounds like manganese to me

 

[DrWazzock]

Sounds like manganese to me

I hope so, and the manganese will help, but I suspect the "swilling" hasn't done it any good for some reason.

Nitrate loss? Slumping? Nematode damage?

I can't remember which year it was, but we had stunted beet crops quite widely in this area during one particularly wet spring/summer, even in the free draining, stony wold land. People tried all sorts, running cultivator tines up between the rows etc to try to get some air in, but didn't make much difference although some late N greened them up and made them look better.

Anyway will try more minerals. Can only help, other than that it's the lap of the gods.

 

[Hindsight]

Since the 4" of rain, now lower leaves wilting and yellowing quite seriously despite plenty of soil moisture. Younger leaves very upright as if the plant is under stress. Lost vigour and slowed growth rate markedly. Looks a bit yellow all over the field whereas before the rain it looked very green and healthy. Worse on the sand. Much greener on the heavy land and next to wheelings. What's going on? Soil slump? Nematodes? I think I will ring the fieldsman. Did all I could to minimise slumping risk. Very light power Harrow and drilled into land that was subsoiled in the autumn. Have had similar problems in the past in this field with both early ploughed and late ploughed soil. Limed it in the autumn. pH ok.

Waterlogging. Plenty of beet in South Lincolnshire going all shades of yellow - assume some will be confused for virus. Lower / older leaves primarily as plant reacts to temporary asphyxiation of roots. Maybe some nitrogen leaching and denitrification. Some trace elements maybe. Am going to check with fieldsman about a bit of extra N. And I assume patience. Hey ho. 150mm rain in three days bound to have some negative effect.

 

[DrWazzock]

Waterlogging. Plenty of beet in South Lincolnshire going all shades of yellow - assume some will be confused for virus. Lower / older leaves primarily as plant reacts to temporary asphyxiation of roots. Maybe some nitrogen leaching and denitrification. Some trace elements maybe. Am going to check with fieldsman about a bit of extra N. And I assume patience. Hey ho. 150mm rain in three days bound to have some negative effect.

It is the older lower leaves and it's quite widespread across the field. Not virus patches. Fingers crossed it gets over it with a bit of nursing.

 

[robbie]

On one field I've got patches which just don't seem to want to get going. No sign of soil pests the only thing I can think of is the poorer patches roughly coincide with areas that were grazed by birds when the beet were young.

This was a tissue sample I had done a couple of weeks ago just before I chucked some MN and bitter salts about. I also tried a bit of extra N on one patch but that hasn't made any difference.

 

[Laggard]

What’s the latest on virus yellow? Anybody got symptoms showing yet and if so did you spray? Haven’t sprayed here yet, nailbitting.

I should have sprayed!

 

[Hindsight]

I should have sprayed!View attachment 816218

Are those plants confirmed with virus? If yes, OK.

If not then submit samples to BBRO at Norwich for confirmation of first: virus presence and second: which virus (es) present. Please report back. There are a number of 'yellowings' in beet at the moment - especially here in Lincolnshire with recently waterlogged fields, and the immediate reaction I suspect will be to say it is virus.

Await your reply. Thanks

 

[Hindsight]

On one field I've got patches which just don't seem to want to get going. No sign of soil pests the only thing I can think of is the poorer patches roughly coincide with areas that were grazed by birds when the beet were young.

This was a tissue sample I had done a couple of weeks ago just before I chucked some MN and bitter salts about. I also tried a bit of extra N on one patch but that hasn't made any difference.View attachment 813598

2018 preceding year - any SU herbicides used in cereal? Outside chance but possibly soil residue?