Foliar feeding drought stressed wheat?

[PSQ]

I've got 80 acres of drought stressed Grafton, sown deep on 24th September to ironically 'find moisture'. It started raining as the rollers left the field and didn't stop for four months. We've had 13mm since N2 (4 way split) in mid March, and that 13mm didn't wash the N or S as far as the intentionally deep sown crown roots. 2 weeks ago I would have said it had 3t/acre potential, now with crappy 'middle finger' flag leaves I'd say it's south of 2t and falling fast.

Soil analysis is 'good' for everything, but leaf analysis shows otherwise:

It had 5kg of SoP after the analysis at T1, 10 days ago. It also had 2kg/ha of Mag sulphate sprayed on 4 tramlines to see if it would darken the green, no effect.
Is there any foliar feed worth the effort that would benefit the crop at this point and 'colour it up', or is a case of throwing good money after bad?
Would SM3 be worth a punt?
Trace element brews?
Foliar Nitrogen or DAP?
Or just cut my losses and watch it lose all remaining potential?

 

[Chae1]

Its obviously your decision, but in my experience trace element brews are a waste of time on stressed crops.

Just shut the gate and stop looking at it.

It will rain at some point, and it will look better.

 

[robbie]

As already said no amount of trace elements is going to turn a pigs ear into a silk purse but why not use this as a opportunity to try a few different brews and maybe learn a bit.

When I saw your tissue analysis I immediately thought 5 kg sop, 5 kg epsotop and 0.5lt zinc to try and remedy it.

I think you were on the right track with what you applied at T1 but one hit isn't going to put it right.I think you need multiple applications( a couple at least) also 2 kg on mag sulphate isn't a lot I'd go at 5kg /ha per pass minimum.

Only my opinion but also if you are going to spray a potion on then do it early In the morning. Plants will shut down throught the day and will shut down even earlier with drought and heat stress and may not start working again until very late into the night,theres more chance of actually getting something Into the plant if you can do it before the stomata shuts.

 

[PSQ]

I think you were on the right track with what you applied at T1 but one hit isn't going to put it right.I think you need multiple applications( a couple at least) also 2 kg on mag sulphate isn't a lot I'd go at 5kg /ha per pass minimum

My mistake re the Bittersaltz. It was 100kg in 2000L sprayed at 100L, so 5kg/ha, not 2.
I see what you mean with spraying earlier too.

 

[Brisel]

Buy one can of Magphos K and apply it to a tramline at half to full rate. I'm not normally a fan of high margin distributor snake oils but I reluctantly caved into my agronomist a few years ago on some drought stressed Diego that looked awful on gravel soils. It went greener overnight though it was in a tank mix of epoxi, Corbel for mildew & rampant yellow rust and CTL Only 100 l/ha so no irrigation... I haven't used it since but it's worth a try IMO. Maybe buy a can of Gramitrel while you're at it and try a tramline with that too.

Damn, I do sound like a salesman. Sorry.

 

[deleted user 837354]

One can of Magphos K and something with zinc and manganese in it.

I dare say some of these crops have problematic root issues which will not be helping matters.

 

[Brisel]

The primary deficiency is still dihydrogen monoxide...

 

[PSQ]

The primary deficiency is still dihydrogen monoxide...

Apparently it's just been banned by the EU, due to it's association with multiple sudden deaths.









?

 

[Will 1594]

You can see to the line where we irrigated wheat. , starting second time round , Tuesday
At brisel says only thing it needs is ????

 

[cricketandcrops]

Afraid there ain’t any magic potions to cure drought stress......potassium can help but when we have such dry conditions like we are experiencing applying anything could stress it more......should it rain then some foliar NPK would help, something like CROPLIFT PRO - 2.5 kg/ha won’t break the bank, and perhaps magnesium at T2/T3 but crops that are wilting I am advising leaving well alone.

Biostimulants are supposed to help BUT everything I’ve seen says they need to be applied before stress if they are going to be stress busters......consistently inconsistent IMO at present!

If we do get rain then consider doing something to help maintain green leaf, but I am currently fearing the worse in terms of harvest in the east!

 

[yellow belly]

in Australia they plant thin stands and aim for low biomass as the more biomass the crop has the quicker it runs out of water before grain fill
when I had ausis visit they were shocked how thick our crops were

 

[MrAgrologist]

Green = chlorophyll = N and Mg - hence applying N and Mg makes a crop greener.

 

[MrAgrologist]

I've got 80 acres of drought stressed Grafton, sown deep on 24th September to ironically 'find moisture'. It started raining as the rollers left the field and didn't stop for four months. We've had 13mm since N2 (4 way split) in mid March, and that 13mm didn't wash the N or S as far as the intentionally deep sown crown roots. 2 weeks ago I would have said it had 3t/acre potential, now with crappy 'middle finger' flag leaves I'd say it's south of 2t and falling fast.

Soil analysis is 'good' for everything, but leaf analysis shows otherwise:

It had 5kg of SoP after the analysis at T1, 10 days ago. It also had 2kg/ha of Mag sulphate sprayed on 4 tramlines to see if it would darken the green, no effect.
Is there any foliar feed worth the effort that would benefit the crop at this point and 'colour it up', or is a case of throwing good money after bad?
Would SM3 be worth a punt?
Trace element brews?
Foliar Nitrogen or DAP?
Or just cut my losses and watch it lose all remaining potential?

It is a tricky decision, all I can say is when looking at our trials in the dry years, we still get the response, but the overall final yield is down. A 0.25 t/ha is the same value whether on top of a 5, 8, or 12 t/ha crop. t is the same for nitrogen - still get the response but not the total yield / ha.

 

[MrAgrologist]

Our Gramitrel product is incredibly consistent in giving the extra 0.3 t/ha whether dry years or wet.

 

[shakerator]

in Australia they plant thin stands and aim for low biomass as the more biomass the crop has the quicker it runs out of water before grain fill
when I had ausis visit they were shocked how thick our crops were

think they call it haying off

 

[B'o'B]

Our Gramitrel product is incredibly consistent in giving the extra 0.3 t/ha whether dry years or wet.

Are those independent trials?

 

[cricketandcrops]

No they are our Yara trials, however I have a number of customers who trialled Gramitrel and are now using each year due to it delivering. Agree with Mark very consistent performance across a number of years. If in doubt buy a couple of cans and give it a go, best way to find out on your own farm, arguably too late for this crop though as best results from GS30-33 timings IMO if spring applied.

 

[Farmer Roy]

in Australia they plant thin stands and aim for low biomass as the more biomass the crop has the quicker it runs out of water before grain fill
when I had ausis visit they were shocked how thick our crops were

I am still shocked at how thick they are


thick crops also relate directly to increased disease & fungicide use

 

[B'o'B]

No they are our Yara trials, however I have a number of customers who trialled Gramitrel and are now using each year due to it delivering. Agree with Mark very consistent performance across a number of years. If in doubt buy a couple of cans and give it a go, best way to find out on your own farm, arguably too late for this crop though as best results from GS30-33 timings IMO if spring applied.

If it’s so good @MrAgrologist could send me a couple of cans. One to try this year and one next at right time. If it’s as good as claimed it would be like a drug dealer giving the first hit for free! Trouble is I’ve never seen independent trials come up with the same benefits in anything like a constant manner for any of these products.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Looking at the bottom pic, if that was here I doubt it would even do 1/2 t / acre
I’d be walking away from it, just leaving it as potential groundcover for the next crop - certainly wouldn’t be spending any money on it