How to boost direct drilled spring barley

My spring barley is struggling too. I think the mistake was ‘drilling on the green’. The cover crop had sucked all the moisture out and it’s hardly rained since drilling. Where the cover crop was thin the barley is acceptable. I’ve got spring triticale on another block and that is looking well …. cover crop sprayed off about 6 weeks prior to drilling. Both crops following wheat with straw baled.

I don't cover crop before spring barley.

Beans doesn't mind a cover crop but barley no. Even spring wheat may not mind it.

Best cover before barley is grazed by sheep and is turnips but then that can have an impact on your osr which is worth way more...

After a few years of trying (rather than just saying plough it) spring barley likes to go in not too deep, not too trashy and not too early.
 

Tractor Boy

Member
Location
Suffolk
How’s the soil temperature. With all that residue cover it more than likely a lot colder under it than the bare patch. Also when drilled it would have been too so got a quicker start. DD crops here are always behind in growing,as said above SB is a crop that need a good start and a heavy residue load isn’t it. Plough it after Christmas ,spray off any flush of weeds,spread you PK and half your n on and work it in while making a decent seedbed. Drill and watch your neighbours admire it.
You would have boulders if you tried to plough this after xmas
 

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
You would have boulders if you tried to plough this after xmas
Plough earlier then and get it frosted and weathered. It all boils down to knowing your soil types needs. Even then every year will have its challenges and a farmers job is to know and change to make the job work not be narrow minded. Plenty of reasons that many DD drill lived out their final years in the bushes in the 80s.
 

Richard III

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
CW5 Cheshire
@Tractor Boy From my experience of having the same that should pick up and grow away rapidly soon, but obviously never catch up.

If I need to plant spring barley, I now scratch the surface to a depth of 10mm after drilling. I hate doing it, but it's the only way I can guarantee a decent crop here.
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
It has been a
I’ve got a problem with some spring barley drilled with a 750 into spring wheat stubble on March 30th. The barley has no go in it, it’s all got spindly leaves and no tillers and despite an 85% establishment it still hasn’t covered between the rows after emerging about a month ago. I’m not sure whether it’s down to the dry not making N and other nutrients available or previous residue locking nutrients up. There is moisture at depth but we haven’t had a lot in the 2-3 inch top rooting zone. Another possible mistake was not spraying the weedy volunteers off til early March as I didn’t want to have to do the usual practice of a dose of glyphosate before Xmas and another at drilling. Am I likely to have some alleopathy?
I’m just worried whether it’s going to run up without bulking out as when this happened on a droughts light land field once that’s what happened and the ears were tiny.
Is there anything that can be done to thicken it up. The second picture shows an area with no residue and the barley has tillered there.
I feel your pain.. clay ground? it has been an aweful year for establishing spring barley for many many reasons when direct drilled... If there was a market for conventional spring triticale i would grow that instead next year... if you have some rain today then it might just make a barley crop to sell by august and will now clash with wheat harvest... spend no more on it than absolutely necessary between now and then.. good luck
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
Thanks for all the sensible answers. As for the people saying plough it….why don’t you go waste your time doing that instead of wasting it on a dd forum thread. 😂
Dont forget that ploughing works and is the easy option for many people.. it of course does nothing for long term soil structure..blah blah.. etc respect the ploughmans lunch and never say never however if someone suggests ploughing as it is always an easy re set button... mineralising nitrogen can be done quickly with a plough and energy at a price... nature can also deliver much happier margins per ha over time... thank good we still have a choice!
 

Wigeon

Member
Arable Farmer
Just to add my experiences from this yrs spring barley on heavy ground:

DD into failed rape cover crop: awful slug damage, v patchy establishment, terrible vigour. Re drilled it crossways and flat rolled the lot. Now looks nice, but still slow.

Top tilth in front of the drill, having had an autumn LD leg only through it: looks ace.

Into sprayed off short term ley: bit patchy, but has improved with a flat roll and some rain.
 

Lawnseed

Member
Emmm.. 🤔
Im thinking of a lick of liquid fertiliser. Its absorbed through the leaves so the need for rain to dissolve the granules is not a requirement. Not sure what to spray. Nitrogen and manganese/sulfur.
I don't grow cereals. But when I use compost from a recycling facility it can be a mess. If the compost is a bit fresh (still heating). What happens is that the compost uses the nitrogen in the soil as a fuel to break down. Similarly to wood chip on a flower bed. I'm thinking the straw residue on you field is breaking down and starving your crop of nitrogen. BTW compost will work well in year two and there after.
Try a drum or two on part of your crop and see what happens.. 👍
 

Tractor Boy

Member
Location
Suffolk
Well, I’ve rolled it today, although rolling it was like rolling a concrete yard. I’ll apply some Mn and a concoction of other nutrition tomorrow or Wednesday and see what happens from there.
 

jack6480

Member
Location
Staffs
Tried direct drilling spring barley to with
The exact same problems. Perfect establishment with lovely full rows, but then nothing after that. It always looked very thin and unhealthy even with fert.
best thing would be drill spring oats or beans, or just accept that the barley will do about a ton to the acre
 

jack6480

Member
Location
Staffs
C7442230-ABAB-42B0-B5A6-871A9415CDF2.png
 

Tractor Boy

Member
Location
Suffolk
Tried direct drilling spring barley to with
The exact same problems. Perfect establishment with lovely full rows, but then nothing after that. It always looked very thin and unhealthy even with fert.
best thing would be drill spring oats or beans, or just accept that the barley will do about a ton to the acre
Can’t really like that. I have had some success with dd spring barley in the past al be it only 2 to 21/2t/ac.
 

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