How late for linseed

[Banana Bar]

I’ve got 45 ha of linseed that I’m due to drill. Situation is heavy clay that was cultivated in the autumn with a Horsch Terrano and left, therefore it’s not quite level enough to drill into without moving it. The temp is very low and there is no rain forecast for the foreseeable future. I could move the seedbed very shallow and wait for a rain, I could drill straight behind the cultivator and roll down hoping to retain moisture ( which I doubt I will ) or going against the norm of it won’t grow in the bag it may be best to not drill it and have a fallow break / cover crop.
Ideally I would move the ground shallowly and wait for a rain, but how long to wait?

 

[teslacoils]

End of the month.

 

[Flat 10]

Move shallow chase with drill and rolls and wait for rain with the seed where it needs to be.

 

[B'o'B]

We have drilled it early May in the past.

 

[britt]

As with all spring crops it depends on the weather.
Last year late April drilled crops around here did better than earlier drilled because they didn't get stressed by the late May hot dry weather.
Early drilling may is fine if the weather is kind.

 

[teslacoils]

Doesn't look like half the spring barley here, planted in march, will grow until may. Will still be fine.

 

[Brisel]

If you can get it in well, crack on. If it goes into a 3/4 dry seedbed you don't want it germinating then running out of moisture. Are you happy for the later harvest and subsequent wheat drilling if you wait?

Hedge your bets by levelling it up, rolling and waiting for a rain before drilling. Can you drill it with low disturbance?

 

[Adeptandy]

How about in a DD situation ?

 

[Wigeon]

Had exactly the same. Sprayed off with N, quick toptilth, paddle roll, drill and roll. Got it in friday.

 

[Simon Chiles]

I’ve got 45 ha of linseed that I’m due to drill. Situation is heavy clay that was cultivated in the autumn with a Horsch Terrano and left, therefore it’s not quite level enough to drill into without moving it. The temp is very low and there is no rain forecast for the foreseeable future. I could move the seedbed very shallow and wait for a rain, I could drill straight behind the cultivator and roll down hoping to retain moisture ( which I doubt I will ) or going against the norm of it won’t grow in the bag it may be best to not drill it and have a fallow break / cover crop.
Ideally I would move the ground shallowly and wait for a rain, but how long to wait?

Many years ago I planted several fields of linseed. I remember walking them with the agronomist at the time on a Monday and we were thinking how good it all looked, it must have been about 5 inches tall by then. On the Thursday I drove passed one of the fields on my way to cut some silage ( so for the arable farmers that means mid May ) and noticed that one of the fields appeared to have the linseed disappeared in the middle of it. I thought it might be a trick of the early morning light but had a look at it on my way home only to discover that about 9 acres ( out of a 17 acre field ) had been eaten by leatherjackets. Against all advice about uneven harvests I decided to re drill it. I reckon by the time the seed arrived and I’d planted it it must have been nearly June. The field all ripened at the same time, there was no difference in maturity between the two differing planting dates and the crop was all harvested on the same day at a normal time of the year for linseed. The conclusion I came to was that the planting date made no difference to harvest date, it was probably the weather conditions throughout the year that dictated harvest date and the one thing that was certain was that the headland ( planted early ) and the centre of the field ( planted late ) all had exactly the same weather conditions throughout that year.

 

[Simon Chiles]

I’ve got 45 ha of linseed that I’m due to drill. Situation is heavy clay that was cultivated in the autumn with a Horsch Terrano and left, therefore it’s not quite level enough to drill into without moving it. The temp is very low and there is no rain forecast for the foreseeable future. I could move the seedbed very shallow and wait for a rain, I could drill straight behind the cultivator and roll down hoping to retain moisture ( which I doubt I will ) or going against the norm of it won’t grow in the bag it may be best to not drill it and have a fallow break / cover crop.
Ideally I would move the ground shallowly and wait for a rain, but how long to wait?

PS, if you move the soil shallowly you can plant linseed down to a depth of 1 and a half inches if you need to get it down to the moisture, however you must never plant it this deep if there’s even a slightest chance of heavy rain for at least ten days after planting. If you suspect rain after planting I wouldn’t go deeper than an inch.

 

[Rust]

I think it's to cold, so waiting . Rolled seeded last weekend. Grass is showing up nicely. Puff of roundup and in when warmer and wetter or a forecast of rain. Sowed it April 20th last year.
Drilled it in May in the past.

I am sitting in van typing this while the frost clears from windscreen !

 

[Badshot]

Far too cold.
Had a hell of a frost here this morning.
Mine can wait until mid may if need be.

 

[EddieB]

One field of linseed we in here on Saturday, light soil so nice conditions. 10mm of rain over the weekend has helped keep some moisture in the seedbed too. Will probably do the rest on Wednesday.

 

[yellow belly]

in the 1990s i planted some linseed on the 5 may
descent crop no blackgrass

too cold for it to grow now so wait a week or so if your forecast is dry

i am currently waiting for warmer weather to drill borage and cannary seed

 

[Case290]

I read a post about leaving it fallow and thought that didn’t sound v good but looking at the weather. Thinking it’s probably the best job at the minute. To cold to dry.

 

[Clive]

could have drilled ours any day of the last 6 weeks

plan (as always has been the case) is next week

 

[yellow belly]

looking in fields that were sprayed in late february and drilled with barley last week
black grass at varying stages with plenty of 1 leaf 5 mm long
this will get glyphosate before the barley emerges

still got to plant borage and cannary seed
if i had linseed and the seed bed needed rain i would wait till rain forecast bg will come through if it is planted early and is slow to grow
it did in the 1990s when resistance hit

 

[Clive]

drilling yesterday, should get finished today

80kgs seed plus 100kgs DAP - a little bit of moisture at 35mm deep

https://twitter.com/x/status/1383056978570838018

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

The best way to decide when to switch to a cover crop in my experience is when you know in your heart of hearts that you are only going to break even or worse and give yourself a load of work and expenditure which you may or may not be repaid. Then you can cost the cover crop seed which would be your only downside if you chose that route.

You should be able to keep that below £25 a hectare.