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Flea Beetle Control in Swedes

redcoo235

Member
Livestock Farmer
We thought we would get them in early this year. Got them all in well first week of may. Got a wee bit rain to get some germinated then came dry. Very patchy germination then we got a very wet week and every slug in Perthshire came out for a feed. These new slug pellets are nothing like the old blue ones, they don't give them much more than a shore head! Now what the slugs have left the flying rats are having a fair go at. Not very popular with the neighbours as got the gas gun going full tilt, although not sure if they are doing much good:banghead:

Your looks a great crop, what seed rate did you use?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Are certain soil types more likely to be deficient in boron? Just have a basic soil analysis for the field so I don't know what it's like for boron.

Not really. We did a full test on the fields destined for swedes last year. All were a similar soil type but some (ex-cereal fields) had next to no boron whereas the pp fields had enough without any extra needed.

If you don't test for it, it's probably best to assume it needs extra imo. It's relatively cheap to add, putting about £16/t on fert (so only a few £/ac) or £10/ac for spray application (Spire).
 

Fairview

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Co. Down
We thought we would get them in early this year. Got them all in well first week of may. Got a wee bit rain to get some germinated then came dry. Very patchy germination then we got a very wet week and every slug in Perthshire came out for a feed. These new slug pellets are nothing like the old blue ones, they don't give them much more than a shore head! Now what the slugs have left the flying rats are having a fair go at. Not very popular with the neighbours as got the gas gun going full tilt, although not sure if they are doing much good:banghead:

Your looks a great crop, what seed rate did you use?

Thanks, 1.5kg/acre of natural seed.

Thankfully I haven't seen any slug damage! I'm sure it's frustrating for you though with it being one thing after the other!

Funny my da is currently obsessed with having the crow banger on. He's up at 5am every morning to get it on and at start thought 11 pm was a good time to turn it off! Had to try and convince him not everyone might find his timing acceptable! Mind you if the police call about the matter it wouldn't be a first either!
 

How is your SFI 24 application progressing?

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
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