Absolutely. Same old thing. You get wrong if you drill early and have blackgrass, you get wrong if it goes wet and don’t get drilled up. Expectations need to change.
Blackgrass chemical attack
- Thread starter warksfarmer
- Start date
wanton dwarf
Member
Oh I have probably read some of it on ADHB. But TBH cultural control as stated on ADHB is not practical and has created worse problems for the business. Such as thin poor crops due to poor establishment.
The application in the field doesn't seem to match ADHB documentation. I did wonder how much wildlife has to play in weed seed transmission - which I have seen with wild flowers in the Conservation Area we have.
Someone previously mentioned a death ration of 70% per year for weed seeds ? I understand 5+ years of seed free weeds is supposed to be good. But if THAT were true then ploughing 12 year unturned soil should bring up a very clean sheet to work with.
Somewhere along the line things don't match up with reality .. so is anyone actually documenting the success or failure of these policies ?
wanton dwarf
Member
Is it possible to target weed pollen ?
I did a quick Google and saw people attempting to destroy pollen using a weak bleach mix. If the majorty of the weed seeds can be made sterile this would be a good fall back.
I did a quick Google and saw people attempting to destroy pollen using a weak bleach mix. If the majorty of the weed seeds can be made sterile this would be a good fall back.
It just grows like hell whatever you do. Ploughing made zero difference here. Some years are worse than others. You just have to keep it at a level where you can economically grow wheat every 3/4 years. You need lower cost systems to support lower output rotations because that’s the reality.
thankfully we’ve got quite alot of really clean but the two worst fields happen to be outside my house tormenting me!
wanton dwarf
Member
Was just looking on ADHB .. there's nothing of value there. It's the same old information that's been around for over a decade. No mention of new chemistry .. poor ideas on Cultural control.
There should be iterative development on ALL fronts with the best advice at hand to farmers. It's just not there. Far more information on these pages and the heads of farmers.
There is no new advice. Grow a rotation. Grow spring crops if it’s bad. If it’s average grow a late drilled winter wheat if you can travel. If it’s clean drill wheat early.
Any kind of disturbance makes it ten times worse.
It’s here and it isn’t going away, live with it and stop worrying about what others think. You can grow high yielding wheat that can look quite messy, you just need to follow it with something that you can get levels down.
high output continuous wheat or wheat/rape rotations are gone, that system which worked well for many years is dead and is not coming back.
The whole game has changed.
Ironic that the op runs the only drill on the market recommended for a 'Rotation of continuous milling wheat' (obvs, it wouldn't be feed, would it!) By drilling in any conditions as late as you like....while pulling it with a 'recommended 130hp 6900 JD' 400hp crawler on a 3m drill.....
Fwiw I think the mistake made by the op was poor pre em chem choice, but undoubtedly the Triton would stir more seed into action.
Blackgrass adapts quickly. My neighbour, a well known organic farmer used to ‘weed surf’ for BG. It now often doesn’t grow above the canopy. The same could happen with the OP’s system, selecting for November germinating blackgrass. Where have done a lot of spring crops in a row the population has definitely shifted towards spring germinating.
the only way I know how to keep it at a level is by being varied.
as I’ve said before on this thread the blackgrass around this area is the worst I’ve ever seen it despite everyone adopting varied rotations. It’s a bad year for it evidently.
I have mega clean crops no tilled 20th September and dirty crops no tilled 15th October , but apart from 10ha not yield affecting. I’m struggling with the correlation of it all.
the hangover of the chemical age is biting this area in the arse incredibly hard. It’s more of a threat than bps going.
- Location
- Lincolnshire.
I am sure you will find a correlation with wet weather if you look for it. Too much rain hinders residual chemicals and water logging reduces early crop competition. IIRC the weather has been wetter than average this season.
Yep I think you are absolutely right
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
Are you going to roundup the bad patches out?
There isn't much bg around here but I have a couple of patches in a couple of fields, I think I just need to take the hit and kill them now.
I've barely left the parish in weeks, maybe I need to take a drive around to feel better about it!
No, my worst patches are the areas I sprayed off 2 years ago. It makes no difference in my experience. Wheat is the weak link, but it’s also our most profitable crop. As said earlier we just need to keep it at a level.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
If you grow wheat fewer times in the rotation, you don't have to think about it as often.
suffolksmallholder
Member
- Location
- Suffolk
Watching my neighbours efforts last year and looking at the wheat crop in the field today in the 30m Bateman sprayer widths where it was killed off completely, there is absolutely no difference and IMO the problem is worse. A decade of wheat growing and no rotation can't help though. A two year fallow may be a way forward with chemical control during this time period. Can anyone afford to do this? Interested of Suffolk.
SS
You have to have extremely low overheads in order to profit from a lower output rotation.
suffolksmallholder
Member
- Location
- Suffolk
Has anyone tried a two year fallow? I'd be interested to find out rather than this random chem application to simply make the problem worse.
SS
And that’s where paying rent makes it harder
- Location
- Lincolnshire
No. Soil structure on heavy land turns crap enough after a one year fallow. But really what's the difference between a two year fallow, and a well managed two years of grass?
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
What about: Sugarbeet next year which can be hoed about now (last year of contract), followed by hybrid rye to try and smother it?
Had a well respected older farmer over yesterday for a tour, warts and all. He said it makes no difference, even if you do 5 years grass the following crop will still have BG in it. He has done it. Basically some years control can be great and some years it’s sh!t.