Fungicide use V crop biomass

Just wondering about this
Say for example I had a cereal crop that would yield 2ton of grain and 1 ton of straw per acre
Would it require half the fungicide compared to a 4ton crop and 2ton of straw?
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
I suspect we are all making rods for our own backs, in a low bushel weight year, the nicest sample in the field is often the hedgeback swath, that has had half rate N.
Back in the 80s when my Gramp held the cheque book in a vice-like grip, we were doing 3 ton/ac wheat behind spuds, with 1.5cwt seed, 3cwt/ac Nitram, a squit of Brittox and a grudging dose of Tilt Turbo. You could chase a mouse through the crop in May and to modern eyes it looked starved.
I'm beginning to think we haven't moved on much.
Grow a lush crop, then struggle to keep it clean because of the in crop micro climate all summer, then in a year like this you have spent all the money, and there hasn't been the grainfill to make the required crop.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
You can do amazing things to a thin but even crop of wheat with a set of rolls and a hefty late dose of an.

If I had a mightier ballbag, maybe even some kind of einbock Harrow.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
You can do amazing things to a thin but even crop of wheat with a set of rolls and a hefty late dose of an.

If I had a mightier ballbag, maybe even some kind of einbock Harrow.
Or graze it down with sheep. We have had some good results using hoggets on the wheat in the spring. Counterintuitive, but they firm it nicely and eat off diseased winter growth. Open the canopy and let the air and sunlight through it.
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Good yields of cereals here have always come from crops that looked so thin as to be a near write off in the early spring.
I think a lot depends on what soil the crop is on. Thin soil wants a thin crop early spring and yield is more likely to come from decent bushel weights, I think better bodied land can support higher tiller numbers and grains /m2 with more average bushel weight, but higher overall yield.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Or graze it down with sheep. We have had some good results using hoggets on the wheat in the spring. Counterintuitive, but they firm it nicely and eat off diseased winter growth. Open the canopy and let the air and sunlight through it.

Maybe not on the clay! We did a small direct drill trial. It was.....ahem.....a bit poor. I was looking at ripping it up.

I think dad rolled it three times in April. It tillered like crazy. Only time I've seen similar was robigus after beet maybe 15 years ago.

Anyway, low plant count. Tillers everywhere. Crop had low biomass and height. All fert in one go. Did fine. Not vintage. But fine.

So yeah, low biomass and low fungicide is fine. But not going to break records.
 

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
Just wondering about this
Say for example I had a cereal crop that would yield 2ton of grain and 1 ton of straw per acre
Would it require half the fungicide compared to a 4ton crop and 2ton of straw?
I've been doing variable rate pgr and fungicide for a while now.
Not massive variation, but 20% either way.
It's all stood ok, and none died on its feet.
Will have lots of comparisons to look at with my yield maps this year.
 
Reason I asked is I had 6 fields of spring barley here all sowed same day all had same treatment

Some yielded just over 2t and 6 bales and was as clean as a whistle combining, no dust and only a few awns floating about

Another yielded 3t and 9bales and had a fair bit of dust like it needed a higher rate of fungicide
Got me thinking that more biomass needed more systemic fungicides 🤷‍♂️
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Too high a plant population can cause low bushelweight here as the plants starve one another as our soils dry out. Also increased disease pressure.
It depends on TGW and drilling date of course but in simple terms I’m tending to go back down to 150 kg/ha seed rate as a general rule. 200 is too high when conditions are stressy.
When combining for my mate on the wolds I was always amazed at the yield and quality of the wheat. The soil was moisture retentive nice stuff, but you could “whip a mouse through the crop”. It always seemed too low a plant population to me as he drilled it about 3” deep in November. But it generally did over 3t per acre of high quality grain.
Interesting trial on biomass and fungicide usage 👍 I’ll be pleased to hear of the findings..
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Crop couldn't stay any greener than it does under trees, but it never yields very well there.
Stays green under trees because it doesn’t get enough sun to properly ripen. The tree also out competes the crop for water and nutrients. Not really a meaningful example.
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
OK, bit flippant I suppose.
But Cougar used to stay green forever, and it always died off with that nasty yellow appearance like under trees, so extended greening is not necessarily the whole picture, particularly if it is overwhelmed at the final hurdle by late rust.
 
Reason I asked is I had 6 fields of spring barley here all sowed same day all had same treatment

Some yielded just over 2t and 6 bales and was as clean as a whistle combining, no dust and only a few awns floating about

Another yielded 3t and 9bales and had a fair bit of dust like it needed a higher rate of fungicide
Got me thinking that more biomass needed more systemic fungicides 🤷‍♂️

I didn't feel this year fungal pressure was high in spring barley in this area at all.
 

Salopian_Will

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Shropshire
I suspect we are all making rods for our own backs, in a low bushel weight year, the nicest sample in the field is often the hedgeback swath, that has had half rate N.
Back in the 80s when my Gramp held the cheque book in a vice-like grip, we were doing 3 ton/ac wheat behind spuds, with 1.5cwt seed, 3cwt/ac Nitram, a squit of Brittox and a grudging dose of Tilt Turbo. You could chase a mouse through the crop in May and to modern eyes it looked starved.
I'm beginning to think we haven't moved on much.
Grow a lush crop, then struggle to keep it clean because of the in crop micro climate all summer, then in a year like this you have spent all the money, and there hasn't been the grainfill to make the required crop.

I suspect that if we all ploughed up 300yr old leys again we would have 20 years of wonderful fertility and would get away with 3cwt/acre of Nitram, still.

We have ploughed up some old pasture and merged it with another field. I can point to the inch where the old fence line was - the yield maps are quite startling too.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,285
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top