Blackgrass control poll

[Hereward]

It's not really new though is it. Just.....forgotten.

How do you mean?

 

[Brisel]

Cinmethylin is an existing active, though not used in the UK before.

 

[fudge]

Blackgrass in cereal farming is like prostate cancer in men. A serious problem but most will die with it rather than from it.

 

[teslacoils]

How do you mean?

It's been around in other crops for a good while. It's a different method of action though. But to say it's new is a bit like saying metribuzin is new - this new chem has been used for grassweed control in rice for thirty years. It's the different mode of action that's exciting.

 

[Lincsman]

What kind of money would you guys estimate black grass control costs / ha

And just how much does it knock the average yield ? - can’t help but notice the farms that seem to have it worse often seem to be the same ones that claim high average yields ?

The two dont go together, having a yield monitor on the combine and holding a steady speed shows that clean to a very light infestation knocks it down at least 1t/ha, I did a little experiment for a few meters in a tramline with no herbicide... (it shows on google earth at the moment).. it dropped down to 1t/ha from about 8.5t/ha

Personally I have got most of it to virtually rogueable levels, mainly due to late drilling and keeping up with a good pre em... this from areas that should have been silaged 5 years ago.

 

[Pan mixer]

Just been looking at my worst field - inherited I may add.

This is now in its third year of grass having been cut for silage at and grazed too.

Still poisoned with the stuff, mowing tomorrow.

 

[rob1]

Just been looking at my worst field - inherited I may add.

This is now in its third year of grass having been cut for silage at and grazed too.

View attachment 797862
View attachment 797864
Still poisoned with the stuff, mowing tomorrow.

Its too early to cut to kill it IMVHO, we have found that if you wait till after the 20th of May but by the 1st of june it will have set seed but that seed isnt viable, the plant will then die, its a bit like wheat cut it now and it will regrow but when the seed has been pollenated and set it won if you cut it. The black grass will send up a couple of seed heads and flower very quickly and will drop fresh seed unless you can graze it hard to stop it

 

[Bury the Trash]

Would it be reasonable for someone who hasn't actually seen black grass in the flesh ... to mistake loose smut for it ?[emoji848]

in barley that is.

 

[Pan mixer]

Its too early to cut to kill it IMVHO, we have found that if you wait till after the 20th of May but by the 1st of june it will have set seed but that seed isnt viable, the plant will then die, its a bit like wheat cut it now and it will regrow but when the seed has been pollenated and set it won if you cut it. The black grass will send up a couple of seed heads and flower very quickly and will drop fresh seed unless you can graze it hard to stop it

The flowers are at the top at the moment so seed will be setting, the weather is good hopefully and we will cut it again then graze it I hope, but I know what you mean, other fields I have like this have Italian rye in with them and I tend to cut that second half of May and there is no blackgrass left now, however this is residual westerwold and I really don't want that to seed either.

 

[Adeptandy]

Disappointed with control here, but did take a punt and didn’t pre em ( black fen land tends to lock
Pre ems up pretty quickly ) and went for an early Hatra. Could have been worse, but got areas to thick to rogue and to thin ( probably ) to glyphosate. As it’s now in flower, hoping it will drop seed, chit and then get terminated after harvest ( yes, I am an optimist ) [emoji51]

 

[teslacoils]

Lol. My thin roguing areas will be maybe three acres an hour. Thickest maybe three hours an acre.

 

[robs1]

The flowers are at the top at the moment so seed will be setting, the weather is good hopefully and we will cut it again then graze it I hope, but I know what you mean, other fields I have like this have Italian rye in with them and I tend to cut that second half of May and there is no blackgrass left now, however this is residual westerwold and I really don't want that to seed either.

It is a gamble especially in second cut which we want hay from so need decent weather

 

[GeorgeK]

Just been looking at my worst field - inherited I may add.

This is now in its third year of grass having been cut for silage at and grazed too.

View attachment 797862
View attachment 797864
Still poisoned with the stuff, mowing tomorrow.

May not be perfect but surely better than several years of spring cropping with little margin and extra stress, at least you're getting very little seed return and reducing the seed bank. No cheap or easy fixes for bad BG

 

[yellow belly]

too early to say how well last autumns control was yet

early 1st and second cut sillage with preverabley 2 more cuts does give it a hard time after the second season then follow with a spring crop

 

[teslacoils]

Roguing today. Going to be a sodding chore as 90 percent is in the damned row.

Marked quantity of tiddlers either in the wheelings or where the pipe was dragged behind the slurry.

 

[HarryB97]

Just been looking at my worst field - inherited I may add.

This is now in its third year of grass having been cut for silage at and grazed too.

View attachment 797862
View attachment 797864
Still poisoned with the stuff, mowing tomorrow.

That is surprising we've had fields that have been as bad as that the first year but they've always been spotless from the second year onwards

 

[bert]

Roguing today. Going to be a sodding chore as 90 percent is in the damned row.

Marked quantity of tiddlers either in the wheelings or where the pipe was dragged behind the slurry.

Whats your roguing set up? I use the spraying tractor with a transport box, so there is never too far to carry the stuff, carry the knapsack with water and glypho in the transport box too, which is much quicker than roguing.

 

[Wombat]

We've got some very good in crop control, few bits on the edge of fields need a foot or so topping and tidy up.

A day of infield roguing should see most of it tidied up

 

[teslacoils]

Whats your roguing set up? I use the spraying tractor with a transport box, so there is never too far to carry the stuff, carry the knapsack with water and glypho in the transport box too, which is much quicker than roguing.

Me. A fibreglass pole. Pole to mark the tramline. Walk up tramline one side pulling. Put bundles in tramline. Walk back doing the same. Pick up bundles and put on verge to dry. Come back another day is napsack needed.