Harvest 2013

[Jim Bullock]

Clive
I suspect you are on much lighter land than us and Linseed is IMO a light land crop, grows well on sands and chalks but not so good on blue clay..it just keeps growing and is always wet to harvest..Been past a neighbours linseed over the weekend and I think he had just a few stops with the combine..!! and it looks as if the baler had a few problems trying to get the straw together to burn...just remembering why I should never grow it again..

 

[Clive]

Clive
I suspect you are on much lighter land than us and Linseed is IMO a light land crop, grows well on sands and chalks but not so good on blue clay..it just keeps growing and is always wet to harvest..Been past a neighbours linseed over the weekend and I think he had just a few stops with the combine..!! and it looks as if the baler had a few problems trying to get the straw together to burn...just remembering why I should never grow it again..

Think your right, years ago we had 175ac - I cut the first 150ac in a day !! The last 25ac took a week ! It was on some heavier land and just would not die

 

[Tompkins]

Not sure on exact date now but it was drilled mid April. I wouldn't class the land as light but its certainly not our heaviest. I doubt we will bother with it again, I would rather plant maize and sell it locally if harvest dates are similar

 

[Oscar]

Good news, managed to finish WW this afternoon so back on 150 acs of S Beans to hopefully finish. The wheat was 10 miles away at around the 1000 ft mark and unlike the rest of the country it seems[reading threads on here ref how dry you all are] we have battled with around 4 inch s of rain the last month with low cloud and fog most mornings. Have to admit the last 20 acs has grown out in the ear and has been crimped. Got to wait for the guy to clear around 60 acs of very wet straw now !!!

 

[Simon Chiles]

Tried the linseed yesterday, it had regone 3 weeks ago and looked nice and dead, cut round the field once and tested the sample......

50%

It seems there 3 crops in one. There are dead black balls with nowt in them, balls that are fit and full of tea coloured seeds, and yellowy balls that are like mush. Anyone else havng the same problem?
I dont think late N and rainfall has helped.

Was it really 50%, some moisture meters give false readings due to oil content. Not applying a fungicide during flowering will result in the dead black balls, yellows balls that are like mush is caused by spraying the reglone to early. If you apply the reglone then have to wait to harvest the linseed will start to green up again. I wait until I can see a weather window I think is coming up then spray 10 days beforehand. I've planted linseed late on heavy ground this year, some harvested late August and some harvested late September. I think the difference was fert application timing and variety.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

I had a moisture reading of 50%, I know linseed flows like water but if it was that wet you won't have got it out of the combine tank. My last field I thought we were too early into as some stems were still greenish but some of the seed had lost its brown shiny appearance and had gone a dark dull brown colour which makes me think we were actually a little late in harvesting it.

 

[franklin]

but not so good on blue clay..it just keeps growing and is always wet to harvest..

I grow mine on blue clay. Drilled 22nd April. Cut at 9% on 1st September. Actually, looking through the farm diary, the latest I have cut mine was 10th September. I never use Reglone - that seems to cause more problems than it is worth.

 

[Tompkins]

I understand that moisture meters are dodgy when its really wet but when I squeezed it in my hand it made a ball! We had to get in the tank to empty it.

Had another look today and it hasn't changed much. Its like its been drilled on three different dates. Im pretty sure late uptake of N has something to do with it.

Any suggestions on what to do next? Is it worth spraying again?

 

[Tompkins]

First year using reglone, thought it would be best to get a good kill! At the end of august there were blue flowers and brown balls evenly spread over all fields! Tbh its an almighty f*** up!

 

[warksfarmer]

First year using reglone, thought it would be best to get a good kill! At the end of august there were blue flowers and brown balls evenly spread over all fields! Tbh its an almighty f*** up!

Last year I used glyphosate on 75% of the area and Reglone on the rest as I had visions of keeping that bit for seed. Glyphosate bit cut relatively easily but the reglone bit was hard work as it didn't kill in the bottom of the crop so we ended up leaving some shorter stalks uncut. Needless to say me and linseed are done.

 

[snarling bee]

I've been 'done' with linseed 3 times! I am obviously a slow learner. I would rather fallow it.

 

[Grains Guru]

with the beauty of hindsight, maize would have been a much better crop to grow than Linseed.

 

[Daniel]

In terms of growing it, only doing about 60 acres it's an easy crop to grow now we've more or less cracked it. It's the hugely variable yield based on spring rainfall/temperatures that is the problem.

 

[tje]

with the beauty of hindsight, maize would have been a much better crop to grow than Linseed.

I choose maize ...still waiting for it to be harvested ...

 

[beltbreaker]

Beans getting harvested toda near Carnoustie. First time I have seen dust fly from beans. Hope it yields well for them.

Cheers BB

 

[Oscar]

Got the beans done last night,good job too as its rained heavy overnight and the week ahead looks dodgy. Finished on a high really as the last 16.5 ha were at home and have average yielded 5.4 t/ha @ 20% but being sent to co op for drying and storage so will see what weighbridge says.

 

[Jerry]

Start of the last harvest for this year.

Something a bit different.

 

[Grains Guru]

do you make your own cider with them?

 

[Jerry]

do you make your own cider with them?

Most I sell to a local maker but some we press ourselves and pasteurise into large "wine boxes" for apple juice. These keep for about 4 to 5 months.

We have about 6 acres of trees. Some by old. Yield looks 10 times bett than last year

All picked by hand so a good work out for my back.

 

[Grains Guru]

Great stuff. Could you let me know who the local maker is? I'd love to buy some. Always looking for new ciders to try! Fruit yields seem to be fantastic this year.