How to boost direct drilled spring barley

[ajd132]

Spring oats look good here.
Spring barley very average.
Some after spring wheat and it’s good. The worst bits a couple of fields after winter wheat with a lot of chopped straw.

spring barley is definitely more fussy on DD and can be a weak link on my experience.

many plan is to remove the straw from winter wheat infront of soring barley, as I think residue toxins etc is not helping. Then establish the cover crop with some soil movement to create a bit more tilth.
Our best spring barley in the last came from very shallow cultivation and broadcasting a cover crop at the same time.

ploughing works well for spring barley, we had a good crop the one time we did it. But it was a nightmare to harvest and kept pulling out the ground.

 

[Huno]

"Well sown half grown" the old sayings are the truest... lots of people are saying that DD spring barley is a hard one to get well sown... does anyone know the meaning of " cuckoo corn"?
"Wheat into mud..barley into dust" classic spring for that olde classic saying too... it stayed as dust until last week

 

[ajd132]

"Well sown half grown" the old sayings are the truest... lots of people are saying that DD spring barley is a hard one to get well sown... does anyone know the meaning of " cuckoo corn"?
"Wheat into mud..barley into dust" classic spring for that olde classic saying too... it stayed as dust until last week

These dry springs don’t help. We have barely had any rain since we drilled it.
To be honest most of the spring barley around here regardless of establishment looks pretty crap.

 

[snarling bee]

You don't have to 'plough', but some sort of cultivation might be helpful. All my spring cereals look good ATM despite FA rain, but all were into an autumn cultivated seedbed and light cult and drill within a few hours of each other this spring to conserve moisture.
We put half N on before drilling which probably helps as well.

 

[ajd132]

You don't have to 'plough', but some sort of cultivation might be helpful. All my spring cereals look good ATM despite FA rain, but all were into an autumn cultivated seedbed and light cult and drill within a few hours of each other this spring to conserve moisture.
We put half N on before drilling which probably helps as well.

Every year is different, couple of years ago we had more spring drilling to do because of the wet winter. So was half no till and half topdowned. The no till that time out yielded the cultivated. This year im confident it would be the other way around and a shallow pass in the autumn would have been better.

spring wheat and spring oats really don’t seem bothered but I definitely think spring barley is far more fussy to things and some years it just doesn’t work that well.

I can definitely tell this year which fields are inherently more fertile or have had more manure over the last ten years (or none in quite a big case of them).

 

[goodevans]

A low disturbance sub soiler run in front of the drill could surely be an option,failed crops don't pay any bills

 

[ajd132]

A low disturbance sub soiler run in front of the drill could surely be an option,failed crops don't pay any bills

I can’t see how subsoiling infront of a drill, in march, on clay soil is going to do anything of benefit!
I don’t think the issues some people are getting would be fixed by subsoiling.

 

[YELROM]

Spring oats look good here.
Spring barley very average.
Some after spring wheat and it’s good. The worst bits a couple of fields after winter wheat with a lot of chopped straw.

spring barley is definitely more fussy on DD and can be a weak link on my experience.

many plan is to remove the straw from winter wheat infront of soring barley, as I think residue toxins etc is not helping. Then establish the cover crop with some soil movement to create a bit more tilth.
Our best spring barley in the last came from very shallow cultivation and broadcasting a cover crop at the same time.

ploughing works well for spring barley, we had a good crop the one time we did it. But it was a nightmare to harvest and kept pulling out the ground.

Do you find spring barley does better after your tine drill

 

[goodevans]

I can’t see how subsoiling infront of a drill, in march, on clay soil is going to do anything of benefit!
I don’t think the issues some people are getting would be fixed by subsoiling.

In that case run the subsoil through in October,I can't see why there can't be some flexibility

 

[jack6480]

Is high mag clay soils and spring barley direct drilled a recipe for disaster

 

[jh.]

I've been trying a few different machine these last few years in spring barley . Reason being , this time last year I could see a time coming that winter ploughing and left bare , was not allowed and spring ploughing imo doesn't work in heavy soils.

Historically pre Christmas ploughing has always produced our best spring crop yields. Spring ploughing usually some of the worst even below the direct drills tried recently . This is on heavier soil that doesn't just plough and power harrow combi drill in a pass like lighter farms.

First year comparing , pre Christmas ploughing , mintill and direct in to stubble claydon tine . All with fert down spout . The claydon produced a great crop , every bit as good as the Christmas ploughed stuff but brackled badly in the wide rows . Mintill at about 5" didn't seem far behind but less straw .

Year 2 , christmas ploughed again and comparing claydon twin tine , avatar and mintill . Again claydon produced a decent crop but the avatar surprised how well it did for such minimal disturbance. Lots of grass weeds in mintill and after claydon , less behind avatar but bigger blw.

If I didn't have so many stones the twin tine claydon for me , was the best option but it was soul destroying lifting stones with a 15ton dump trailer after it . The avatar was only really let down by struggling to cope with the last harvests wheel tracks but other wise was acceptable crop . Again less straw .

This year I've tried a sky drill . More disturbance than avatar and doesn't look as well but it is a different year .

With all the problems happening around the world I don't think there is much chance of winter ploughing getting stopped for a while now , so I'm not rushing to change anything as long as my old kit lasts and i can afford the fuel as it really is the most consistent .

 

[ajd132]

In that case run the subsoil through in October,I can't see why there can't be some flexibility

Usually too wet then. I have done this before running subsoiler in august but it hasn’t achieved much.
These issues aren’t a case of land being tight, it’s more to do with large straw loads and not enough tilth around fussy barley.some years it works out fine and others it doesn’t work so well.

 

[ajd132]

Usually too wet then. I have done this before running subsoiler in august but it hasn’t achieved much.
These issues aren’t a case of land being tight, it’s more to do with large straw loads and not enough tilth around fussy barley.some years it works out fine and others it doesn’t work so well.

I will add I don’t think the bucket loads of rain in February helped anything

 

[snarling bee]

Every year is different, couple of years ago we had more spring drilling to do because of the wet winter. So was half no till and half topdowned. The no till that time out yielded the cultivated. This year im confident it would be the other way around and a shallow pass in the autumn would have been better.

spring wheat and spring oats really don’t seem bothered but I definitely think spring barley is far more fussy to things and some years it just doesn’t work that well.

I can definitely tell this year which fields are inherently more fertile or have had more manure over the last ten years (or none in quite a big case of them).

Autumn cultivation and drilling straight in, in the spring, occasionally light cultivation within 24hrs of drilling has worked consistently well for me. Perhaps that's why I continue to do it.

 

[ajd132]

Autumn cultivation and drilling straight in, in the spring, occasionally light cultivation within 24hrs of drilling has worked consistently well for me. Perhaps that's why I continue to do it.

agree, wasnt knocking it at all.

 

[Tractor Boy]

Well the barley I started this thread about still won’t get going. Establishment was good but I think because of the relative dry it lost its vigour whilst it starved of N. As it’s supposed to be malting barley I put 80kg/ha N on after drilling but that probably only got partly washed in over the last 10 days and the following 40kgs/ha N only got applied 2 weeks ago. In the last 7 days, I’ve rolled it, applied Mn, Mg, Zn and Cu. I even sprayed a foliar N on, and earlier today tried some PGR in the hope of helping the small tillers.
In the main, I don’t think it liked the cold weather in early April or the dry chopped straw sucking any water and nutrients up. We still are only getting occasional 3-5mm rain at a time when a really good 20mm soak would do it the most good.

 

[EddieB]

I have DD four fields of spring barley this year with a Weaving GD. Three fields had a LD subsoiler through first and they’re looking better than the ones me that didn’t. None exceptional but none poor either. Fairly new to DD, but I am finding results to be less consistent, but with no obvious pattern.

Last year my spring barley established well and then stalled. A concoction of liquid fertiliser and seaweed perked it up but it still only yielded about 6 t/ha.

 

[ajd132]

Our spring barley looks okay now but it should be better. Will probably remove the wheat straw pre spring barley from now and establish covers with a fair amount of disturbance from the Claydon we have coming. Should be a reasonable compromise.
Edit: wheat is so short this yea it probably doesn’t matter about removing straw. We’ve had 30mm of rain in two months.

 

[alomy75]

Well the barley I started this thread about still won’t get going. Establishment was good but I think because of the relative dry it lost its vigour whilst it starved of N. As it’s supposed to be malting barley I put 80kg/ha N on after drilling but that probably only got partly washed in over the last 10 days and the following 40kgs/ha N only got applied 2 weeks ago. In the last 7 days, I’ve rolled it, applied Mn, Mg, Zn and Cu. I even sprayed a foliar N on, and earlier today tried some PGR in the hope of helping the small tillers.
In the main, I don’t think it liked the cold weather in early April or the dry chopped straw sucking any water and nutrients up. We still are only getting occasional 3-5mm rain at a time when a really good 20mm soak would do it the most good.

How did the dd spr barley turn out? I’m contemplating putting a block into barley of some description (these dry springs on my lightest block are proving tricky for anything else to grow) but reading this thread maybe I’ll go winter barley instead of spring as it will be dd. Just concerned about volunteers It’s following spr wheat…how excited do merchants get with wheat in a feed barley sample?

 

[Banana Bar]

How did the dd spr barley turn out? I’m contemplating putting a block into barley of some description (these dry springs on my lightest block are proving tricky for anything else to grow) but reading this thread maybe I’ll go winter barley instead of spring as it will be dd. Just concerned about volunteers It’s following spr wheat…how excited do merchants get with wheat in a feed barley sample?

Normally about £10 excited