- Location
- the brecks norfolk
Very good point. I guess we're all buggered then
I think we need a really good food shortage, not the panic buy shite we've seen this last couple of years but a proper one with people actually going hungry.
Blackgrass chemical attack
- Thread starter warksfarmer
- Start date
I think we need a really good food shortage, not the panic buy shite we've seen this last couple of years but a proper one with people actually going hungry.
wellingtonfarmer
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
Anyone had success with a hoe?
- Location
- NE Derbyshire
We have a 6m Claydon we bought to play with and it works ok if conditions are right but often itās too dry for it. I think we really need to look at something like a chameleon with proper pressurised tines. We have too much blackgrass after osr this year that must have come up late after the pre em got washed away. 90% of it wonāt affect yield but it will certainly affect future cropping plans.
- Location
- Lincolnshire.
Personally I would favour band spraying over hoeing even if this means wider row spacing. Rain after hoeing would guarantee another flush of weeds imo. Having always farmed in the presence of bg I really think that a black grass population will adapt, through timing of emergence, to most counter measures, therefore slavish adherence to whatever formula is likely to make a fool of the farmer at some point. Rotation of crops and cultivation methods work best long term in my experience anyway.
Seen band spraying. Massively underwhelmed.
Thatās almost always the situation here
i need to remember not to get greedy and stay flexible, we have a big chunk we can drill early next year that is really clean, then some which would go well if last two weeks of october are nice, if not then spring barley.
it kind of re-inforces my view that we need seriously low cost systems in order to make lower output rotations more profitable. this stuff is not going away and the variability in chemical control between different years is so massive nothing can really be set in stone.
I am probably making myself depressed as the worst blackgrass is outside my office and around the house, we have got some really nice looking perfectly clean crops too !
Do you think the Triton is stirring up too much bg? Are you drilling late enough for the system?
Heavy land here (not much bg but some) is 2*ww, cc, spring beans, 2*ww, cc, spring oats. Oats, beans, cc and wheat after beans direct drilled. The cc acts as a mulch that supresses the weeds for long enough for the oats to be competitive.
Pre em dff/ffct important. Rarely use avadex or Atlantis, but will if needed.
I've tried spring wheat a second wheat to give a double spring crop but it's crap. Spring barley better for bg suppression, but we've enough barley in the light land rotation really. The double spring crop as a strategy works well - a cc is important but don't get it too thick - the light needs to get in to let the BG grow, and the sun & wind to dry it in spring. Cc's suck very little moisture out in winter, more facilitate drainage and soil structure ime
Rotational or 'as necessary' ploughing works, but once ploughed, don't do it again for 5yrs, or it's a waste of time.
- Location
- Suffolk
We've brought a 6m hoe after a demo and it certainly saved a crop of winter oats that was full of BG. As said above the design of the claydon isn't as good as a chameleon type of linkage but still works well. I see it as a useful tool going forward but not for the whole farm area.@Bald Rick probably...
- Location
- Lincolnshire
I demand the new at chem for BG to be called "Attack" now.
- Location
- S E Glos
l'ordinary bonville
Member
- Location
- N Yorks
I've found that if we delay drilling and then have a poorer crop we are worse off than if we drill at a time we expect to get a strong crop into the winter. Then Avadex plus a full spray stack.
Anything late sown in the last 2 years has ended up with way more blackgrass. And you run the risk of a wet autumn preventing a spray.
I will be aiming this summer to sow a cheap cover before 2nd wheats and then i have the option of a well timed drilling or leave till the spring for spring barley.
For me, full stacks are still working but more cover crops and spring cropping will reduce my chemical spend and hopefully maintain their effectiveness
It's still all about moving soil though. We had a failed late wheat, ploughed and combidrilled. Bare all winter. Cultivated in the spring then sown with spring barley and now coming with BG. Where we left it none has come.
I can settle for spring cropping beans, oats and barley because i feed back to my pigs. I appreciate the gross margin is lower but i value the produce at delivered prices rather than ex farm
Anything late sown in the last 2 years has ended up with way more blackgrass. And you run the risk of a wet autumn preventing a spray.
I will be aiming this summer to sow a cheap cover before 2nd wheats and then i have the option of a well timed drilling or leave till the spring for spring barley.
For me, full stacks are still working but more cover crops and spring cropping will reduce my chemical spend and hopefully maintain their effectiveness
It's still all about moving soil though. We had a failed late wheat, ploughed and combidrilled. Bare all winter. Cultivated in the spring then sown with spring barley and now coming with BG. Where we left it none has come.
I can settle for spring cropping beans, oats and barley because i feed back to my pigs. I appreciate the gross margin is lower but i value the produce at delivered prices rather than ex farm
ollie989898
Member
Has anyone had serious benefits from grassing stuff down or growing maize in a serious blackgrass situation?
Not personally but seen Maize turn around some very messy fields locally.
- Location
- Essex
Grassing down definitely reduces the seed bank but there will still be BG when you go back into arable. Improved soil health should make following crops more competitive.
Well got caught out with some barley this year. Back in arable 3 years after 7 years grass and it has a lot of blackgrass in part of it. Being mixed we have never had an issue until now. Terrified of spreading it to rest of land. Said field will go back into grass in autumn.
ollie989898
Member
7 years in grass? 7 and it was still there!!!?
Seems so but hardly any in the previous two years arable. And last year was a forced spring crop with nothing in it. Itās baffled me this year
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Yes.
Simply knowing that you have a break crop that isn't going to be chock full of the stuff is ace. That's the benefit. Knowing next year that I've a field that's worse than I'd like for bg will be grass for three years is calming.
Does it reduce it? Not sure. Hope so. Certainly with the looming loss of residuals like crawler grass is nice to have.