Barley! Hybrid v conventional

[Green oak]

give me some advice. I’ve grown hybrid for a couple of years and served me well. I brought a tonne of kws funky which also looks well this year. Home saving is around £45 a hectare cheaper the grow. Don’t now what to do.

 

[dirty harry]

I’m hoping funky will do well as growing some for seed this time!! Looks good so far, not grown winter barley here for years! Cheers dh

 

[Green oak]

I’m hoping funky will do well as growing some for seed this time!! Looks good so far, not grown winter barley here for years! Cheers dh

I’ve got it side by side with the bazooka and the funky was on awn two day earlier.

 

[dirty harry]

Yes it does seem early ears fully out here now, started appearing this time last week , what’s the old saying 8 week ear to shear? cheers dh

 

[cricketandcrops]

New hybrid Libra looks good as higher specific weight, from memory second highest on RL, the variety above it is Surge from Syngenta, a 2 row with very good specific weight could be worth a look

If growing on marginal black grass land then Hyvido all the way for suppression, however if black grass really bad then Hyvido isn;t enough needs to be spring cropping

 

[franklin]

This is our first year trying a hybrid, with the September drilled stuff looking like a small forest. The later drilled stuff looks poop but it is on some nasty soil and had not had a nice winter. The fact it has got this far is a point in its favour.

 

[farm]

Last years hybrid bazooka looked a big crop but don't yield any thing special , funky this year looks good and alot cheaper to grow .

 

[bankrupt]

, funky this year looks good .

If funky does what is says on the tin, it'll be far more profitable than any of the hybrids.

Trouble is this year it's tried to go through all its various growth stages a bit too far ahead of any suitable soil and weather conditions here.

My money's still on Meridian to beat Funky and the hybrids here this time, probably for the last time ever.

 

[Try to succeed]

I’m in the same boat. Stopped growing meridian to grow hybrids o suppress black grass. I think it’s a load of b*****ks though as I think it just hides the black grass until th following year. So I tried 10ha of funky. It is 3 or 4 days behind the belfry but tbh there was 5 or 6 days difference in drilling date. Hoping to save this seed like those above and grow cheaper barley. If we up seed rates on 6 rows they should cover the ground as well as a hybrid surely?

 

[jon9000]

Been growing hybrids for a couple of years..... and won't bother from now on. just too light and too many bushel weight deductions. Can only see it working on very good land with a need to spread the rotat ion for work rate

 

[Robert K]

Been growing hybrids for a couple of years..... and won't bother from now on. just too light and too many bushel weight deductions. Can only see it working on very good land with a need to spread the rotat ion for work rate

Pleased with this Funky when I sprayed it on Tuesday evening.
Used to grow Hybrids.

 

[robbie]

It'll be interesting to hear how funky does come harvest time. If it's like meridian but with a better bushel weight it'll be a good variety, I've heard of some cracking yields from it in the past.

I like hyvido bazooka and it does well on our lightland but I don't like the low seed rates,yes it thickens up in the spring but you have to work hard to achieve it and being open over winter it seems to let more rubbish in, I've not got a problem with black grass but I can't see how it would help suppress it.ive never had a problem with bushel weight and hyvido is a better sample than tower has been but I've still got a good chunk of cassia and that takes some beating.

 

[Sheepfog]

I’m not sure the benefits of hybrids outweigh the higher seed cost and lower bushel weights. Are hybrids potentially tying you into a higher input regime with the chemical companies?

Speaking as a stock farmer conventional barley is much more sought for feed. In a low price year hybrid barely is harder to sell and stock don’t do as well on it.

 

[Iben]

20+ years ago, think it was manitou as the six row of the time. A lot of people used to mix the seed with a two row to up the bushel weight.

Never tried it myself, does anyone still do it?

 

[mo!]

I’m not sure the benefits of hybrids outweigh the higher seed cost and lower bushel weights. Are hybrids potentially tying you into a higher input regime with the chemical companies?

Speaking as a stock farmer conventional barley is much more sought for feed. In a low price year hybrid barely is harder to sell and stock don’t do as well on it.

It was sold to us as being better on more marginal land, first year we grew Volume we had a 4 tonne crop on some poor land. We have had Bazooka fail twice so won't be growing that again. I think we will ditch the hybrids this time, we also struggle to apply the early N that it needs.

 

[Shutesy]

Will wait and see what happens at harvest but thinking of switching away from Hybrids and going back to something like KWS Funky which sounds great IMO!

 

[bankrupt]

I think we will ditch the hybrids this time, we also struggle to apply the early N that it needs.

Funnily enough, mo!, our experience this time is that Funky really needed N before the hybrids.

Had it not been for the NVZ, Christmas Day would have been ideal.

 

[bankrupt]

20+ years ago, think it was manitou as the six row of the time. A lot of people used to mix the seed with a two row to up the bushel weight.

Good point, Iben.

Our only justification here, for five or six years past, for the excess seed cost of the hybrids has been to up the bushel, when necessary, in mix with the much cheaper-to-grow Meridian.

 

[bankrupt]

I’m not sure the benefits of hybrids outweigh the higher seed cost

They can do, Sheepfog, but the biggest frustration we've had is the withdrawal of varieties just when one had finally got the hang of them.

For example, we were doing very well here with Colossus when Boost and Bronx replaced it which took another few years to get right at which point we were then told to grow Element and Volume in future which were quite different again but eventually got them sorted and now it's on to Belfry and Bazooka!

One of the biggest advantages with the conventionals is that one can at least decide in one's own good time when to move on.

 

[Iben]

As above. Bring back muscat, a fantastic variety here.