DD wheat post OSR

[Wheatseeker]

Much as our soil conditions would allow us to do it - unfortunately the slugs won’t. How effective is multiple stubble raking post osr pre wheat drilling in managing slug populations or is this just wishful thinking ?

 

[alomy75]

Should certainly help kill those on the surface

 

[Clive]

if slugs are that big a problem there are deeper issues that need to be found and fixed

slugs are just a symptom of a bigger problem

 

[teslacoils]

slugs are just a symptom of a bigger problem

Tbh my slugs pretty much went once osr went.

 

[Badshot]

I think it takes a while, but once the mindset of cultivation is broken, you stop removing all the natural predators by squashing them, then it's possible.
I've managed it now, my agronomist thought I was nuts, but there was less slug pressure after rape than either linseed or beans.
But I left lots of osr vegetation for them to eat.

 

[DrWazzock]

A graze with sheep can help if you have any. They never seem to fail to seriously disrupt the slugs lifestyle in many situations. Probably by trampling.

 

[Lincsman]

Tbh my slugs pretty much went once osr went.

Not so surprising as thats when they came, in damaging numbers anyway

 

[Clive]

Watch the movie “the biggest little farm”

The Biggest Little Farm - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Cotswold Len]

I've been no till for three years and found less and less of a problem with slugs (although maybe they starved last winter as I didn't have any crops to eat). I do graze the OSR volunteer stubbles with sheep before planting wheat so there might be something in the sheep trampling them thing.

 

[Brisel]

Much as our soil conditions would allow us to do it - unfortunately the slugs won’t. How effective is multiple stubble raking post osr pre wheat drilling in managing slug populations or is this just wishful thinking ?

Having had a 15 metre rake and having used it - yes, it helps with slug control. We used it partly to stop osr volunteers getting too big but would also only rake on a hot windy day for slug control. You could easily see the slug eggs on the surface after the rake & these were desiccated readily in the sun. Having a stony soil gives slugs more places to hide but the rake tines do move a lot more material as a result so the mechanical destructive effect is greater. You're also killing your beneficial beetles at the same time, so it feel like one step forward means one step back too. When I sold several tractors, cultivators & ploughs to go strip till I did buy a heavier set of rolls, the straw rake and a better slug pelleter at the same time as the strip drill. All the non drill accessories helped with slug control, as did not having brassica cover crops & widening the rotation.

IMO growing brassicas is the primary reason we have more slugs. If you look at the crop rotations of no tiller, osr has either gone or is grown far wider apart than it is on a tillage based system.

 

[Wheatseeker]

IMO growing brassicas is the primary reason we have more slugs. If you look at the crop rotations of no tiller, osr has either gone or is grown far wider apart than it is on a tillage based system.

I completely agree that OSR is the source of the slug problem. However I can’t get excited about dropping it for a spring crop with half the gross margin (or less). It is also difficult to keep pulses far enough apart without it.

 

[Brisel]

I completely agree that OSR is the source of the slug problem. However I can’t get excited about dropping it for a spring crop with half the gross margin (or less). It is also difficult to keep pulses far enough apart without it.

Nothing I'd disagree with there. Start losing a lot of yield to flea beetle and the alternatives start to look less ugly!

 

[clbarclay]

I have generally had reasonable crops of no till WW post OSR. One observation though is that generally, the better the OSR volunteers grow, the better the WW will do. Whether this is just an indication of slug population after the particular OSR crops or that they just munch on the OSR while the WW gets away, I can only speculate.

One of my general criticisms of strip till drills is they seem to be a case of the tail wagging the dog for stubble management.

 

[clbarclay]

Flea beatles, seem to have made the decision to near enough stop growing OSR for us rather than the slugs.

 

[Brisel]

Strip tillage can be the worst of both worlds for slugs & weeds. Not enough steel to control slugs plus getting good consolidation around the seed is tricky with a ridged finish.

 

[britt]

Stubble raking in the right conditions will help with slug control.
But the most important thing is to leave the OSR volunteers in place for as long as possible. Which means not letting it be big enough to shade the grass weeds from the Glyphosate on a pre em spray, but enough to feed the slugs to keep them off your wheat seed.
I learnt when I sprayed off an area pre sowing ( DD ) of wheat as I didn't want to let the OSR get too big. The sprayed area was bare at drilling and the slugs eat the wheat seed. The rest of the field had volunteers which kept the slugs fed until the wheat was up. I pelleted it as the volunteers finally collapsed from the pre em spray and slugs began to move onto the wheat.
The area sprayed off pre sowing had to be redrilled.
Even though the slot was well closed I was surprised how the slugs got at the seed.

 

[martian]

We gave up raking a few years ago and we have no trouble with slugs. As someone said above, leave the ground well alone and your beetle population will build up and control the slugs, as long as you don't spray insecticides, which will knock the beetles big time. Our wheats behind osr this year are as good as you could wish for.

 

[Matt77]

I skipped the rake right or wrong when I got our strip till drill, rolls badly needed updating so took the opportunity to upgrade and get a set with paddles, few year's into it now and I think they help lot's, got a better set of rolls to boot! Paddle osr stubble at least twice before drilling, slugs don't seem to like them at all.

 

[Neddy flanders]

Stubble raking in the right conditions will help with slug control.
But the most important thing is to leave the OSR volunteers in place for as long as possible. Which means not letting it be big enough to shade the grass weeds from the Glyphosate on a pre em spray, but enough to feed the slugs to keep them off your wheat seed.
I learnt when I sprayed off an area pre sowing ( DD ) of wheat as I didn't want to let the OSR get too big. The sprayed area was bare at drilling and the slugs eat the wheat seed. The rest of the field had volunteers which kept the slugs fed until the wheat was up. I pelleted it as the volunteers finally collapsed from the pre em spray and slugs began to move onto the wheat.
The area sprayed off pre sowing had to be redrilled.
Even though the slot was well closed I was surprised how the slugs got at the seed.

trouble is, if there are slugs , there wont be any volunteer osr nor will there be any ww after drilling ?

 

[clbarclay]

I reckon it's the weather after harvest that has the bigger effect, but the size of the slug population to start with is certainly a variable.