we gave up ploughing years ago, all the blackgrass seed falls down the soil cracks in the summer, plough is suicide
How do u put your crop in the ground then ?
we gave up ploughing years ago, all the blackgrass seed falls down the soil cracks in the summer, plough is suicide
Clearly very skilled with the stock then. If your black grass really is terrible on some land though then would you not say that that implies the current system isn't working especially well? Or is the trend going the right way at least?we just went out of cattle after 85 years. We won Grand Champion at the Royal Show with our Pedigree Limousins and many other allocades etc, we sold all 600 cattle in autumn 2014 and it was the best thing we ever did. As for milking.. the dairy men have had aterrible few years many have lost their entire livlihoods.
David were you pleased with the osr establishment and how did it yield?But surely 9 or even 12" sweeps seriously undermine the minimal disturbance case for these drills.
I have just had OSR put in with a hybrid, both on some stony brash and on some tougher(for us) ground, that you would not willingly plough into rape.
The jury is still sitting...
Here's a suggestion for slug problems, stop planting dressed seed, it kills the slug predators.Hard to say really. I know of 3 members who are selling Claydons due to buying no till drills. Hardly a step backwards, is it? I'm sure there are some who bought them thinking they would fix everything but they haven't lived up to expectations. I don't think they are a cure for blackgrass/other weeds & my slug pellet usage has certainly gone up!
Here's a suggestion for slug problems, stop planting dressed seed, it kills the slug predators.
BeatlesWhich slug predators do the fungicide dressings harm , we are stopping using dressings on seeds so this would be good to know ..
Beatles
No, all dressings. Have never used deterI think he's referring to Deter dressing rather than the fungicide ones
No, all dressings. Have never used deter
I've done probably 1000's of hours of research and then started to put some of it into practice. Maybe others should do the same, no point in doing it tho unless you except the fact that you know nothing, were wrong all along and are willing to change. Having an attitude that you are being preached to is a none starter. When you farm in a regenerative manner, things quickly change for the better. All chemical fungicides are toxic and destroy soils, research says putting fungicide into the soil via seed dressings is the worst of allPlease may you point us in the direction of some work done looking at this? I can quite understand Deter harming ground beetles but am yet to be convinced by fungicides - of course it will vary with which type of fungicide. Golf course green keepers used to use carbendazim fungicides to kill earthworms and prevent worm casts on the greens.
@SilliamWhale - a while ago, we were having a discussion about fungicides and soil life. You posted or linked some work on the effects of some pesticides. Can you remember where that was please?
I've done probably 1000's of hours of research and then started to put some of it into practice. Maybe others should do the same, no point in doing it tho unless you except the fact that you know nothing, were wrong all along and are willing to change. Having an attitude that you are being preached to is a none starter. When you farm in a regenerative manner, things quickly change for the better. All chemical fungicides are toxic and destroy soils, research says putting fungicide into the soil via seed dressings is the worst of all
I've never preached to anyone and I'm not going to start now. With regard to slugs, research says the slug consumes seed dressing but is unharmed by it, beatle eats slug and is poisonedI get all that, hence why I'm asking. No offence, but I'm not about to take the word of someone I don't know. A better system is no good if it can't be communicated effectively. Preach to me & I'll ignore what is said.
Chemicals show a net return on investment but I'm always prepared to look deeper. Where less harmful substitutes are available I'd use them if economic. Azoxystrobin is used to suppress the take all fungus which frankly outweighs other beneficial soil fungi in certain circumstances. A better way would be to avoid long runs of cereals so take all isn't an issue. Just one example. With Deter gone, there's less need for a fungicide on certified seed so I may well specify no dressing on bought in C2 this autumn unless there's a bad ear disease year.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-010-1933-0_54
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653507005668
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42946972?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents