Break crops

[Tractor Boy]

To be fair, if your running a big wire in P3, you only need to swoop out the small wire in P2, which is the easiest to change any way.
To cut beans I’ve never changed the front concave, always run a small wire in that position.

I used to run 3 SW for cereals, rape and linseed but swap the rear two to LW for peas and beans. Like you I never bothered swapping the front one from SW as it is heavier and a real pig to get out.

 

[homefarm]

We are considering putting a field into continuous wheat. If we went wheat, wheat, barley, wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat,wheat.

The barley as a third cereal would be decent enough, and probably a lot better than a third wheat, then go to continuous wheat after that. Do you think that's a reasonable way to get into continuous wheat? Will it work?

We have quite a bit of continuous wheat 25 acres since 93 so 30 years

Continuous white straw crops is perhaps a better description as 2013 was spring barley and again in 2020.

We did not see and difference in yield after these spring crops so I do not think they brake the takeall cycle, and we have gone from continuous spring barley to continuous wheat on this new block with no noticeable takeall.

We have used various routes to continuous wheat. Maris Otter worked quite well in years 3,4,5 year 5 can be bad in my experience.
Hybrid barley could have a place too, we are growing it on some continuous land and it performs well.

My blue print is
High PH 7+ if possible,get there by putting 1 tonne in the seed bed every year.

We use no muck but apply fresh P and K every year to keep indices at 2s. I think P is very important.

Lowish seed rate continuous wheat does not want to be thick. No fancy dressing. Some varieties are better suited to continuous wheat.

N little and often not to much early and last dose early may. Around 160 units in total.

Fungicides containing proline seem to help although nothing claimed on the label, so Bayer products rather than BASF.

Weather makes a big difference. The droughts of the last two seasons have reduced yields more on continuous wheat than wheat after oats,our only semi break crop, but the margin is still way better than any other crop we could have grown in that year.

 

[homefarm]

Taken on a lump of heavy land it’s been barley after barley after barley and I’m sure is sick of the stuff. It’s also as tight as and needs a good pull up.

OSR I’m not impressed with the returns or the risk any more, And never got control of it till it was too late.

Spring oats?. Nah too much of the dreaded black grass.

Peas? Hmm don’t fancy trying to scrape them up off the floor.

Beans? Need different concaves in the combine and I don’t think our drill will bury them deep enough.

sublet for spuds vining peas etc, nope tenancy terms forbids it.

SFI options look the most viable and would in time give a good entry for wheat.

what to grow though, would like some sort of production from the land, Baled and wrapped preferably.

Grass mix, herbal ley, Lucerne or something else? Got plenty hungry cattle kicking about in winter to eat it so that’s not an issue.

I hate beans but do have the concaves from a 2388 if you decide to go that route.

 

[ollie989898]

You could grow peas (why the heck you would want to I have no idea) but you'd have to hire a stripper header. I guess (spring) linseed could also work in this circumstance.

 

[Grass And Grain]

We have quite a bit of continuous wheat 25 acres since 93 so 30 years

Continuous white straw crops is perhaps a better description as 2013 was spring barley and again in 2020.

We did not see and difference in yield after these spring crops so I do not think they brake the takeall cycle, and we have gone from continuous spring barley to continuous wheat on this new block with no noticeable takeall.

We have used various routes to continuous wheat. Maris Otter worked quite well in years 3,4,5 year 5 can be bad in my experience.
Hybrid barley could have a place too, we are growing it on some continuous land and it performs well.

My blue print is
High PH 7+ if possible,get there by putting 1 tonne in the seed bed every year.

We use no muck but apply fresh P and K every year to keep indices at 2s. I think P is very important.

Lowish seed rate continuous wheat does not want to be thick. No fancy dressing. Some varieties are better suited to continuous wheat.

N little and often not to much early and last dose early may. Around 160 units in total.

Fungicides containing proline seem to help although nothing claimed on the label, so Bayer products rather than BASF.

Weather makes a big difference. The droughts of the last two seasons have reduced yields more on continuous wheat than wheat after oats,our only semi break crop, but the margin is still way better than any other crop we could have grown in that year.

Thanks. REALLY useful. I've been searching for this exact info for some time.

Looking like can use wheat or barley to get into continuous wheat, but not lose any sleep if don't get drilled in autumn, so go spring barley (which will help control grassweeds, then back to wheat.

What sort of drilling dates?