Ergot

[farmerfred86]

Ergot seems to be a problem again this year.
I've seen it mentioned that Boron deficiency can cause this and increased SDHI use (with the loss of CTL?) can contribute to Boron deficiency.
Can anyone add to this?
Doesn't seem a correlation between other factors like variety or cultivations?

 

[T Hectares]

It seems to be an increasing issue, I’ve read a few bits referencing Copper and Boron reducing pollen viability leading to an extended flowering and increased period of infection but this seems to be a very minor issue.
2 years away from cereals ( not including oats ) burying them, controlling grass weed hosts and clean seed seem to be the main controls
It could possibly be an unseen consequence of notill ??

 

[Badshot]

It seems to be an increasing issue, I’ve read a few bits referencing Copper and Boron reducing pollen viability leading to an extended flowering and increased period of infection but this seems to be a very minor issue.
2 years away from cereals ( not including oats ) burying them, controlling grass weed hosts and clean seed seem to be the main controls
It could possibly be an unseen consequence of notill ??

Good one.
No till causes more ergot.🫣

Grassweeds cause more ergot, it's nearly always worst round the margins, and with the rise of BG and RG, so the incidence of grass ergot has increased.

Unless you grassweed control has got worse with no till, it is not possible to attribute the blame there.
If you went no till to reduce chemical spend and save money, and as a consequence have dirtier crops, that's your decision to cut corners.

Zero till has without doubt cleaned this farm up, from quite bad, (sprayed areas out with the Bateman), to almost clean.
And we have this year reduced our autumn spend accordingly, I'll see if that's a good decision in may.

Been zero till since 2018, direct tine drilling since 2012.

 

[T Hectares]

Good one.
No till causes more ergot.🫣

Grassweeds cause more ergot, it's nearly always worst round the margins, and with the rise of BG and RG, so the incidence of grass ergot has increased.

Unless you grassweed control has got worse with no till, it is not possible to attribute the blame there.
If you went no till to reduce chemical spend and save money, and as a consequence have dirtier crops, that's your decision to cut corners.

Zero till has without doubt cleaned this farm up, from quite bad, (sprayed areas out with the Bateman), to almost clean.
And we have this year reduced our autumn spend accordingly, I'll see if that's a good decision in may.

Been zero till since 2018, direct tine drilling since 2012.

Not “blaming” notill at all, I’m enthusiastic about it…
There’s plenty of evidence that the weed spectrum changes with long term no till, burying ergot is one of the effective controls so it’s not beyond the realms of probability that reduced tillage/dd could exacerbate the issue ?

 

[ollie989898]

Grassweeds cause increased ergot pressure for sure. I've seen ryegrass and blackgrass with ergot.

 

[T Hectares]

Black grass is usually the number one issue, this is on some land we took on last year where the Ergot (and blackgrass) issues were…

 

[Flatlander]

Here they are saying dd contrutes to the increase of ergot. Along with grass weeds. As said it’s always worse in field margins. Used a fungicide called mirivas bold this year and it touted on the label ergot suppression. I don’t have an ergot issue mainly due to cereals being a break crop not a main crop and grass weeds are few and far between. Been a wet year here and I have noticed that on headlands there has been the occasional ergot body. Province wide it’s been an issue in wheat and rye. Copper and boron are both toxin in some degree and could make ergot Spores less likely to take hold. Wonder if higher fungicide use has lessened the natural soil fauna that would degrade the ergot pieces after harvest allowing higher pressure at flowering.

 

[yellow belly]

We had it since the year dot
It is mostly variety or weather related
Grass weed urgot is often small and spindly
I have seen it on the delayed tillers on the tramline edge
Early varieties often have less but the are no early varieties compared to 40 years ago
the problem is now worse because the tolerance is zero
When we used to fill trucks by auger the urgot was never found
Filling from a gravity loading bin also hides it away from the centre of the load
Bucket loading leaves it mixed in

 

[Happy]

Ergot seems to be a problem again this year.
I've seen it mentioned that Boron deficiency can cause this and increased SDHI use (with the loss of CTL?) can contribute to Boron deficiency.
Can anyone add to this?
Doesn't seem a correlation between other factors like variety or cultivations?

Biggest correlation this year could be that between forward sold price and price at time of delivery

 

[Adeptandy]

I had ergot in the sample last year according to the seed dressers, maybe a fluke, but put it all through the tub dryer and never had a rejection or claim for it. I have had 2 rejections so far this year, thinking about trying it through the dryer again

 

[David.]

What varieties affected, I've got some in Costello this year.

 

[Average Farmerboy]

What varieties affected, I've got some in Costello this year.

Yes we have it in Costello this year, none in skyfall or sy instor.

 

[fudge]

What varieties affected, I've got some in Costello this year.

I think I see a little more in Extase than other varieties. We haven’t had any rejections though.

 

[FarmerBruce]

Only time we’ve ever seen it was in Costello

 

[tullah]

I think I see a little more in Extase than other varieties. We haven’t had any rejections though.

I had it in Extase too. i kept clean area back for seed and currently it's now up so we shall see. I hadn't thought it could be down to variety.

 

[Adeptandy]

Skyfall has it here

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

We see much more in the Spring varieties, e.g. Chilham, Cochise, Mulika

Slide 31 onwards from this presentation is quite informative:

https://projectblue.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/Events/Cereals/Milling%20Wheat%20Conference/Milling%20Wheat%202020%20Presentations%20Final.pdf

 

[ollie989898]

We see much more in the Spring varieties, e.g. Chilham, Cochise, Mulika

Slide 31 onwards from this presentation is quite informative:

https://projectblue.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/Events/Cereals/Milling%20Wheat%20Conference/Milling%20Wheat%202020%20Presentations%20Final.pdf

Spring wheat is notorious for it. Much later flowering period when the stuff is more active?

 

[Badshot]

Open pollination varieties are worse

 

[JCfarmer]

They found ergot in a load of my crusoe milling wheat that went into store, the other 4 loads that went before and after were fine!?