Blackgrass

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Yes me too.

However 50/50 winter spring has not been good here. We are also on clay. 2018 spring we had 165ac out of 2500. But still only got 65ac in. Scale that to 50/50 and it would have been terrible.

I'm using grass. So wheat on my own land has always been one in four or five. But it will go to one in six. Three years grass. Three arable. Winter beans, wheat, either winter barley or spring barley. Kit will be reduced. Grass grows so well here that it would be crazy not to use it. Slight learning curve required. Would be nice to grow the beans and wheat for seed. Reduced area makes more roguing possible. Potentially rye for ad after the wheat as an entry to grass. Failing seed could home feed, then it's good bye crop assurance too! Fert from digestate, muck and liquid fert. Not even going to own a spinner.

And if it goes tits up at least I'll have a clean farm to sell!
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
The take home message from this season is drilling date.
Crops drilled;
  • Sept. 25th-7th Oct have lots of blackgrass
  • 7th Oct- 21st Oct have more blackgrass than I'd like
  • 21st Oct-7th Nov very clean
Early drilled crops also have BYDV, lodging etc.
Several farmers around here have been drilling their wheat later to counter blackgrass and are finding that the blackgrass has adapted to late drilling and is now just as big a problem as when they drilled earlier.

The problem is that blackgrass quickly adapts to any new situation.

Drilling even later risks not getting it in at all or the wheat not being able to out-grow the blackgrass, leaving them in an even worse problem than drilling early!

That’s fine for you to say in East Anglia but most other counties west of you get a lot more rain than you do and do very little in November.
Couldn't agree more. There is East Anglian Clay and there is Warwickshire Clay as well as higher rainfall.
I've farmed both and I know which one is considerably easier!
I am sure that there are other really heavy clays around the country too.

If your heavy clay is clay that you can usually grow Sugar Beet on reasonably successfully, what you might call heavy clay isn't what we all call heavy clay.


Each of us will find our own ways of dealing with Blackgrass best. What works for one won't necessarily work for others.
Even then, thinking that you've cracked it and that your system will never need changing again, will probably lead to extreme disappointment.

I have a system that works here now and. In fact, this farm now has less of a problem that I have ever known in 23 years of farming it. I even now find myself reluctant to go to so-called blackgrass events, so as not to be tempted to change my system. But I know full well that my system will have to develop as our blackgrass adapts to the system I am using now.
That doesn't mean that all of the dozen or so parts of my system will change at once.
 

Fubar

Member
Experts? If we all listened there would be better rotations,

As above, topping it does reduce the number of viable ears but it just puts up more ears at a lower height. I've got a wet clay patch at the end of a field that has been the source of blackgrass for the rest of the farm. I took it out for stewardship & put in a nectar flower plot. I've been topping it hard to prevent seed return & it is still putting up fresh ears!
View attachment 805746
This is a worry for me. I've earmarked several areas for a nectar mix in a stewardship scheme. Trouble is they are all blackgrass areas and I'm thinking the blackgrass will thrive in these spots with no chemicals and only minimal topping and I'll end up with a bigger problem than I started with .
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
This is a worry for me. I've earmarked several areas for a nectar mix in a stewardship scheme. Trouble is they are all blackgrass areas and I'm thinking the blackgrass will thrive in these spots with no chemicals and only minimal topping and I'll end up with a bigger problem than I started with .
I doubt it. A neighbouring field was very bad for BG. Came up like a lawn and was put in set aside. (Several years ago) it was then just mown annually after 15july l think old rules were. After 3-4 years it had greatly diminished. And after another 3-4 it was ploughed up and there was basically no BG. It’s still pretty clean some years later, only patch is in a spray miss from a few years ago.
 
nector mix can be cut earlier
in mid tier half should be to give a spread of flowering

my experience of cutting is that despite seeing lots of flowering heads get the cutting timing spot on bg can be reduced to
liberater avadex controlled

the key with cutting is not to cut too early bg needs at least 2 weeks to mature to viable seed after flowering
heads take 2 weeks to flower
also no nitrogen blackgrass has a lot les viable seeds than in a fertilised crop
these seeds left on the surface die more easly
 

solo

Member
Location
worcestershire
I’m finding new plants in the wheat after hand rogueing once again. These have germinated since the heavy rain a few weeks ago and are very low in the crop with small seed heads. The wheat is rapidly senescing now and the canopy is opening up again.
 
I’m finding new plants in the wheat after hand rogueing once again. These have germinated since the heavy rain a few weeks ago and are very low in the crop with small seed heads. The wheat is rapidly senescing now and the canopy is opening up again.
if they have not flowered yet the combine will cut the heads off takes a couple of weeks after flowering for bg seeds to be viable when they are viable you can pinch the seed between finger nails and see if there is a fertile seed

a few years ago we flailed bg down in may and then treated it with round up at desiccation time no viable seeds
also flailed a headland twice the second at harvest time treated with round up at drilling not a lot of bg on that headland
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I’m finding new plants in the wheat after hand rogueing once again. These have germinated since the heavy rain a few weeks ago and are very low in the crop with small seed heads. The wheat is rapidly senescing now and the canopy is opening up again.

I'm sure I'll be vilified for this, but pre harvest glyphosate might lower the seed return from that later flush.
 

Bobthebuilder

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
northumberland
well we've topped patches 2 yrs in a row, sprayed them off with roundup and fields been sprayed twice with chemicals that are supposed to control it and it's still there as thick as ever :mad:
 

solo

Member
Location
worcestershire
I'm sure I'll be vilified for this, but pre harvest glyphosate might lower the seed return from that later flush.
I’m sure it would help but I’ve just finished hand rogueing it. Hard graft but fortunately only a small area. Trying to eradicate the seed return to get back to being free of the weed again.
 

GeorgeK

Member
Location
Leicestershire
After only a million passes with the votex my AB9 flowers are finally starting to win!
IMG_20190719_155227892.jpg
IMG_20190719_155802492.jpg
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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