Black grass 2021

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
This is the worst this area has been for a long time, hardly any fields without BG and proper infestations on many. My own is not too bad. Some patches and an annoying sprinkling on wheat after osr. My broadcast and cultivated is the worst. Considering how early we drilled it’s not too bad. Lots drilled 3rd week September, if I had cultivated and drilled then it would be a jungle I’m sure of it.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I was just thinking how little I had seen about but still time for the late stuff to come from the April cracks.

Pics attached of preferred control method. This is a first year ryegrass ley established in not good conditions. Probably a week behind optimum cutting for the BG but will be fine. Previous crops ab6 fallow, wheat, so oats, linseed. That's what one bad year has done. Two more cuts, wodge of cow poops, sheep. Back into wheat for 2024 harvest.
 

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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
This is why DD/no till is not more popular. I can't name any no tiller who hasn't had some shockingly poor crops occasionally on the road to Nirvana.

I've had a few shockers with plenty of steel deployed too, some of it appropriate at the time, some taking a risk that has not paid off.


I can't name ANY farmer who has never had a shockingly poor crop regardless of establishment system., it happens to everyone on occasion in every kind of system


if you are going to fail, fail cheaply though !
 

Adeptandy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
PE15
I can't name ANY farmer who has never had a shockingly poor crop regardless of establishment system., it happens to everyone on occasion in every kind of system


if you are going to fail, fail cheaply though !
First year full DD and its a curates egg job, some excellent, some poor, very little in between. on the whole it will be better than I did last year trying to establish in many varied ways.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Dad's experimental 7ac into spring barley stubble looked a complete disaster. But goodness knows how many times he rolled it this spring and it looks like it will be worth cutting. If it wasn't wheat, it would be a disaster.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
For once I can say barely a BG to be seen in my WW this year, it was maize then fallowed with a cover crop so assume that has a large bearing on it but very pleased.
A number of fields locally are a wall of BG from hedge to hedge and not even been sprayed off, seems to be flowering, sad to see and makes me feel like I should just go and spray it out for them one night organic style!
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Put my T2 on our wheats on Wednesday. All bar 1 field of which was DD’d. I Have never seen the farm so clear of Blackgrass. However, the recent wet weather had encouraged some BLW’s, so we added a herbicides for them.

Most of the Winter Barley grown as my 2nd white straw crops, were ploughed and Combi’d. Being a Hybrid variety which is very good at out-competing the BG, these fields are almost BG free too.

I have to say that the almost completely free/very low levels of BG in the DD’d wheats is a very pleasant surprise.
But I still think that it needed the 5 years of Ploughing since we gave up Min-till to get the fields back into a BG manageable state, before beginning to start to move towards Zero-tilling.

I’ve just driven down/over to Swansea to see my stepdaughter for the weekend and have passed some shocking BG fields on the way, especially south of Gloucester.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
The wet autumn seems to have had the preem work well. Late-ish drilled. And previous crop of oats into a seedbed that was washed through and every weed germinated. Forever vigilant.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
I’m going to run some trials next year to find out how much herbicide we need when no tilling into thick covers. There’s no difference between full flufenacet, avadex, pdm and dff compared to just .6 flufenacet. I wonder if the covers help suppress it? Or they just don’t work very well because of the covers.
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
I was just thinking how little I had seen about but still time for the late stuff to come from the April cracks.

Pics attached of preferred control method. This is a first year ryegrass ley established in not good conditions. Probably a week behind optimum cutting for the BG but will be fine. Previous crops ab6 fallow, wheat, so oats, linseed. That's what one bad year has done. Two more cuts, wodge of cow poops, sheep. Back into wheat for 2024 harvest.
I’d disagree I think it wants doing as late as possible but without letting any seed go viable. If you cut earlier and the late bg seeds in second cut your in trouble
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I’d disagree I think it wants doing as late as possible but without letting any seed go viable. If you cut earlier and the late bg seeds in second cut your in trouble

Too high risk for me. There's no impediment to cutting here. The sheep will sort it. Probably won't find one next year.
 

Jo28

Member
Location
East Yorks
did anyone use the different chemicals that came out last autumn? did they see any improvement? is Luximo coming out this year and if so will it be an improvement?
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
did anyone use the different chemicals that came out last autumn? did they see any improvement? is Luximo coming out this year and if so will it be an improvement?
What different chemicals? Is luximo sencorex? Only one I can remember being added recently is ethofumesate from sugar beet and I don’t think this added much,
 

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