How to establish OSR with very wet ground?

[franklin]

Patience, and choose a variety with early vigorous growth.
Order the day before sowing and pick it up yourself.
If it stays wet, give osr a miss this year, costs more to grow a bad crop than a good one.

This. If there is no compaction then no need to do any deep work. Get some pellets on next week for a slug kill, then disc drill fast and shallow in good conditions. Roll, pellet, insecticide and check every week for pests.

That's what I'm doing and have 400ac of wheat still in the way.

 

[Oat]

Could do a pass with the Terrastar and then allow that to dry and then in with the Claydon / 750a. Or could put the rolls over it as they have a Techneat seeder on the back. Really need to drive backwards with the rolls as the spreader plates are behind the rolls for Avadex!

Use your rolls and seeder to level the ground and spread the seed, and then go back over just using the rolls. Andrew Ward's machine has rolls, then seed, then rolls again.

 

[kc6475]

Still lots of time for osr yet, main thing is don't maul it in, slugs are gonna be a real pain this year I fear so don't make it easy for them, and if it would just stop raining the ground will soon drain, we have had 60 MM. this week, we are on a mixture of clay and medium soil and it soon dries in August, its when its wet in October we are in trouble.

 

[Feldspar]

Use your rolls and seeder to level the ground and spread the seed, and then go back over just using the rolls. Andrew Ward's machine has rolls, then seed, then rolls again.

I don't think the rolls would do any leveling. There are wheelings that would need deeper cultivation.

 

[Feldspar]

Use your rolls and seeder to level the ground and spread the seed, and then go back over just using the rolls. Andrew Ward's machine has rolls, then seed, then rolls again.

I don't think the rolls would do any leveling. There are wheelings that would need deeper cultivation.

 

[Brisel]

Stop thinking about abusing the soil even more by driving over it unless it is with a spinner and fat tyres, followed by a light set of rolls pulled by a tractor on fat tyres. Today is 10th August FFS!

 

[Feldspar]

Use your rolls and seeder to level the ground and spread the seed, and then go back over just using the rolls. Andrew Ward's machine has rolls, then seed, then rolls again.

I don't think the rolls would do any leveling. There are wheelings that would need deeper cultivation.

 

[Shutesy]

I'm in very similar position to @Feldspar with wet ground and a strip-till drill. We don't however have quite such a range of cultivators and seeders available to try other methods as many others do, we also don't have any FSS just the new seed we have already ordered sat in the shed so spreading it on top isn't really an option. I think in this case my only option is patience? I have got slug pellets and liquid fertiliser sat ready as well and only 70 acres (1.5 days drilling) to do.

 

[fudge]

 

[Kiwi Pete]

 

[Nearly]

View attachment 562970

Air drill?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Air drill?

Always amazingly cost effective - over here at least. Was cheaper to put N on with the helicopter than the quote from the truckers 5 minutes away.. I was semi-serious

 

[Clive]

Could do a pass with the Terrastar and then allow that to dry and then in with the Claydon / 750a. Or could put the rolls over it as they have a Techneat seeder on the back. Really need to drive backwards with the rolls as the spreader plates are behind the rolls for Avadex!

get the seed box on the terrastar ASAP - forget the 750a if is very wet for OSR ior you wuol eget it i

I'm in very similar position to @Feldspar with wet ground and a strip-till drill. We don't however have quite such a range of cultivators and seeders available to try other methods as many others do, we also don't have any FSS just the new seed we have already ordered sat in the shed so spreading it on top isn't really an option. I think in this case my only option is patience? I have got slug pellets and liquid fertiliser sat ready as well and only 70 acres (1.5 days drilling) to do.

wait, its still very early

I could drill here no problem but no way I will do yet

 

[Shutesy]

Does anybody have proof that late August/early September is peak flea beetle season or does it just happen to be when the most OSR is about at early emergence so they are easy to find?

 

[Feldspar]

Does anybody have proof that late August/early September is peak flea beetle season or does it just happen to be when the most OSR is about at early emergence so they are easy to find?

No. All we have done is plant early for the last two years and have had not as much damage as neighbours who drilled later. In the absence of better evidence we decided to the same again if we could.

 

[Shutesy]

No. All we have done is plant early for the last two years and have had not as much damage as neighbours who drilled later. In the absence of better evidence we decided to the same again if we could.

My plan this year was to drill earlier, hopefully in the first week of August...best laid plans as you said earlier!

 

[RTK Farmer]

Just come from visiting a friend now farming a farm i gave up. He's min till and plough. Harvesting wheat at 20% on horrendously wet soil. Combine sinking in and trailers rutting. If i were wanting to establish rape in those conditions terrastar and seed box would be best option by far. It demonstrated to me how resilient DD soil quickly becomes to trafficking. No going back here.

 

[yellow belly]

if emergence coincides with wet days the slugs work 24 hours a day and finish rape off in one day but if it coincides with a dry week the slugs can only work for a few hours and the slug pellets can intercept them

too wet here to travel letting the slugs come to the top if they can and get eaten the longer term notill has less slugs
soil too loose gives the slugs a chance to hide

waiting for rape after wheat and need to combine the spring barley for rape
black grass is germinating so may get a chance to reduce it before the next crop

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

Wait for it to dry up.

If it doesn't then sow later and it will still leap out of the ground.

15th September latest sowing here. That's 36 days away yet

 

[ajd132]

Everyone getting on his back for wanting to drill it early but I am from the same area and year after year anything drilled after around 20th August is regularly useless. Heavy clay in a flea beetle hot spot is different to sand the other side of the country...