Belepi wheat as a second wheat?

[Elj]

After a disappointing barley harvest(7.2t/ha av), we need to look at options to fill that barley slot.
I quite like the idea of flexible drilling dates, early harvesting depending on drilling date( 2/3wk of October, and also it's competitiveness with black grass.
Has anyone had experience of belepi as a second wheat?
Tia elj

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

Hi Elj,
Belepi is a good second wheat. I know your first thought is 'well you would say that', but it is!
There is a gentleman on this forum who has experience of this personally. His story is as follows:
Darlington, heavy Brick Clay soil. Drilled 1st week October at 80kgs/ha. Looked pretty awful in May to be honest (we are talking autumn 2014 / May 2015). A lot of trash on the ground, patchy, some fields had signs of nutrient defficiency. Yielded 4.5t/ac on average with one field doing 5t/ac, the larger field doing 4t/ac. Outyielded Diego by half a tonne/ac. Best yielder on farm. To top it all he sold it for biscuit on a £3/t premium - yes it does biscuit too, but as it has not been through the RL, NABIM wont give it a rating (talk about boy's club!).
Belepi suits second wheat drilling due to its wide sowing window and strong spring drilling, coupled with earlier harvest.

 

[willy]

Personally have found it not very good as a 2nd wheat. Dont know why it looked good but didnt yield, as a 1st wheat after s beet it did v well. But i have found it not to that vigerous and up the seed rate.

I like it as it has a place, but not large areas for me.november, december slot only for me.

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

It's expected that different growers will experience different outcomes for any given variety . The only way to know if a variety is suited to your land is to try some.
I was asked yesterday if Belepi was still regarded as a spring wheat for the purposes of the 3 - crop rule for 2017 season. My response was that as far as I know nothing has changed and the latest comment on the DEFRA website is as clear and precise as you would expect it to be!... (bullet point 2 is the relevant comment I guess).

 

[turbo]

First time growing Belepi as a spring wheat this year and hope to cut it tommorow ,looking at the ear size compaired to a proper spring wheat it looks like it should yield nearly double but we will see tommorow.Is there any more varietys coming through that are like belepi but better.

 

[Shutesy]

Got 30 acres of Belepi going in as a 2nd wheat. Haven't yet decided whether to go late autumn or in the spring, will be strip-till straight into raked stubble. Not sure strip-til will work that well once it starts getting wet late october and into november. Will have enough seed for 165kg/ha.

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

Got 30 acres of Belepi going in as a 2nd wheat. Haven't yet decided whether to go late autumn or in the spring, will be strip-till straight into raked stubble. Not sure strip-til will work that well once it starts getting wet late october and into november. Will have enough seed for 165kg/ha.

Best yielding opportunity comes from autumn drilling. Belepi is winter dorment and it is my belief that spring drilled Belepi is held back for a while if it experiences a cold start. Belepi drilled 4th October was testing at 25% moisture on the 25th July this year and was harvested by month end - best 2nd wheat variety choice for winter oilseed rape to follow. If drilling in the autumn (1st Oct onwards) you need to adhere to the rule of aiming for 200 established plants in the spring, getting on the right seed treatment and adjusting seed rate relative to the conditions of the field / trash levels / residual N etc. By example: assuming a 20% field loss and 50gms TGW you should need 125kgs/ha.

 

[Shutesy]

What date would you relate the 125kg/ha to, 1st week of October? Haven't got the seed yet so will wait and see what the TGW is. Think I will aim for the 2nd week of October then.

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

What date would you relate the 125kg/ha to, 1st week of October? Haven't got the seed yet so will wait and see what the TGW is. Think I will aim for the 2nd week of October then.

When you are ready. That example was looking more at potential field loss percentage as the limiting factor. If you drill 1st week October then you may consider field loss % to be less, or conversely going in December into horrific seedbed you might factor in 50% field loss - of course here you have the benefit with Belepi of not having to do anything and could wait until conditions improve in late Feb or early March.

 

[Farmtech]

Best yielding opportunity comes from autumn drilling. Belepi is winter dorment and it is my belief that spring drilled Belepi is held back for a while if it experiences a cold start. Belepi drilled 4th October was testing at 25% moisture on the 25th July this year and was harvested by month end - best 2nd wheat variety choice for winter oilseed rape to follow. If drilling in the autumn (1st Oct onwards) you need to adhere to the rule of aiming for 200 established plants in the spring, getting on the right seed treatment and adjusting seed rate relative to the conditions of the field / trash levels / residual N etc. By example: assuming a 20% field loss and 50gms TGW you should need 125kgs/ha.

Tried Belepi as a Spring Wheat this year, sown 25th Feb into heavy fen skirt.
Slow emergence and unusually cold April in the East didn't help and resulted in 5.2 t/ha yield but good bold bright sample.
Probably better for the post beet, late Autumn slot.

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

Tried Belepi as a Spring Wheat this year, sown 25th Feb into heavy fen skirt.
Slow emergence and unusually cold April in the East didn't help and resulted in 5.2 t/ha yield but good bold bright sample.
Probably better for the post beet, late Autumn slot.

If you are anywhere near Welney give me a shout and I'll come over and have a discussion. Did you have any other winter wheats go in at the same time?

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

Tried Belepi as a Spring Wheat this year, sown 25th Feb into heavy fen skirt.
Slow emergence and unusually cold April in the East didn't help and resulted in 5.2 t/ha yield but good bold bright sample.
Probably better for the post beet, late Autumn slot.

The other thought is that there have been some really damaging attacks of Gout Fly this spring, an issue that many farmers simply don't appreciate they have. I saw a significant attack across seven fields / four different farms in one location where extensive attack resulted in stunted secondary / tertiary tillers, noticeable secondary growth and quite frankly the whole was a sad mess - nothing to do with the variety as all spring-planted wheat would be similarly affected.

 

[Elj]

Just had our belepi dressed with a tgw of 54, how many kg/ha should I drill at?
This will be drilled this week as a second wheat.
Regards
Elj

 

[robbie]

I'm planning on going at 155kg/ha(10 stone/acre) but weather that's right or not I don't know.

The first year I grew it I drilled at the end Nov after beet at 110kg/ha and had a marvelous crop, the next year I drilled it mid Oct as a second wheat at the same rate and had a thin crop come harvest which done 3ish ton/acre. Last year I drilled it as second wheat early to mid Oct at 165-185kg/ha I had a hell of a crop all winter but the late spring did cause it to loose tillers but it still done 3 tons/acre which is on a par with everything else so you draw you own cinclusions.

 

[Ugo79]

Just had our belepi dressed with a tgw of 54, how many kg/ha should I drill at?
This will be drilled this week as a second wheat.
Regards
Elj

Difficult to saying without knowing your soil type, seedbed conditions, pest and grass-weed pressure etc etc. but considering drilling date alone I would aim to drill a minimum of 375 seeds/metre.

Therefore with your tgw I would aim for 200-210 kg/hectare.

From what I have seen Belepi is very vigorous in the spring and grows some very large 'main' leaves but doesn't noticeably tiller more than other varieties.

I would rather start the spring with a decent amount of tillers rather than rely on weather, nutrition, pgr etc. to promote growth in a crop that is too thin.

 

[Ebbage Seeds]

Just had our belepi dressed with a tgw of 54, how many kg/ha should I drill at?
This will be drilled this week as a second wheat.
Regards
Elj

All depends on winter field loss likelihood. Aim for 200 established plants in the spring - let's say 25% field loss = 267 plants/m2.
At 54tgw = 145kg/ha. Assumes germination in high 90's and not too much trash and correct seed treatment.