Notill spring barley !

[Acke]

Since we start DD spring barly in 2013 it looks to be the crop that is hard to go wrong with! Dry or rainy years , barly looks great. Wheat , spring or winter is not always the best, not OSR either!
Is there anymore that have the same experince ?

 

[Bury the Trash]

Where are they all, noone to reply ?....

Since we start DD spring barly in 2013 it looks to be the crop that is hard to go wrong with! Dry or rainy years , barly looks great. Wheat , spring or winter is not always the best, not OSR either!
Is there anymore that have the same experince ?

Anyway Acke , its barl e y with an 'e' ?? mind you my Swedish is non existant.

How about as a compromise ' S. Barley is better strip sown ' ...

 

[Brisel]

I've found the opposite with spring barley here. My yields have gone down a bit. I think it's more to do with a wet March followed by no rain after sowing in April, May, June and July. Tillering seems poor but that's mostly for wide row spacing of 33 cm with a Claydon strip till drill and lack of rain. I can't increase nitrogen fertiliser - half is pre drilling and the rest pre emergence and it's for malting. Other spring sown crops have not done well either - beans, oats or linseed.

My wheat yields have gone up slightly. Osr is declining slowly but that's due to cabbage stem flea beetle not establishment. Overall I'm no worse off but have saved time, soil and money. Most of the money savings are from reduced wearing parts as I'm on very abrasive flint soils that eats tyres and steel.

What drill are you using @Acke ?

 

[Acke]

Where are they all, noone to reply ?....


Anyway Acke , its barl e y with an 'e' ?? mind you my Swedish is non existant.

How about as a compromise ' S. Barley is better strip sown ' ...


Sorry I try to spell better!

No DD is better here than strip sown!

 

[Acke]

I've found the opposite with spring barley here. My yields have gone down a bit. I think it's more to do with a wet March followed by no rain after sowing in April, May, June and July. Tillering seems poor but that's mostly for wide row spacing of 33 cm with a Claydon strip till drill and lack of rain. I can't increase nitrogen fertiliser - half is pre drilling and the rest pre emergence and it's for malting. Other spring sown crops have not done well either - beans, oats or linseed.

My wheat yields have gone up slightly. Osr is declining slowly but that's due to cabbage stem flea beetle not establishment. Overall I'm no worse off but have saved time, soil and money. Most of the money savings are from reduced wearing parts as I'm on very abrasive flint soils that eats tyres and steel.

What drill are you using @Acke ?

We have a Horsch Avatar since spring!
Befor we have Muliva DS and Befor that a WM DS

 

[DrWazzock]

Yes, we have got on very well direct drilling spring barley here. Sometimes we have cheated and done some low disturbance loosening where the sheep traffic has created a bit of compaction. Going into drying warming soils without the moisture loss penalty of conventional cultivation works well. Not quite so successful on very heavy land but on the lighter stuff its a success.

 

[Acke]

Yes, we have got on very well direct drilling spring barley here. Sometimes we have cheated and done some low disturbance loosening where the sheep traffic has created a bit of compaction. Going into drying warming soils without the moisture loss penalty of conventional cultivation works


well. Not quite so successful on very heavy land but on the lighter stuff its a success.

We have heavy clay here( 50-67% clay) and it works better than cultivated for us !
What drill do you have?

 

[ajd132]

Spring barley seems to be the one crop around here that doesn’t respond well to no till. I think it’s partly down to people waiting until late April to drill it.

 

[Philip Hedeng]

Spring barley in general has been very successful here too, but I see some examples where it doesn't get on well. I'm a bit concerned about seeding spring barley this time after a good winter wheat with lots and lots of chopped straw. Getting NPK, not only N, down with the seed is essential, but that's a lesson learned long ago in Sweden regardless of machine system. The spring barley yields I hear of in UK are generally lower than here and we use the same varieties. @ajd132 , why would you wait so long to drill barley? It's common knowledge here you get yield reduction when drilling second half of April, and you're season starts earlier than ours.

OSR is as always complicated. Getting good tilth, shallow depth and plenty of NPK is the winning combination. Vaderstad Tempo has excelled in this regard, apparently right in stubble too.

 

[ajd132]

Spring barley in general has been very successful here too, but I see some examples where it doesn't get on well. I'm a bit concerned about seeding spring barley this time after a good winter wheat with lots and lots of chopped straw. Getting NPK, not only N, down with the seed is essential, but that's a lesson learned long ago in Sweden regardless of machine system. The spring barley yields I hear of in UK are generally lower than here and we use the same varieties. @ajd132 , why would you wait so long to drill barley? It's common knowledge here you get yield reduction when drilling second half of April, and you're season starts earlier than ours.

OSR is as always complicated. Getting good tilth, shallow depth and plenty of NPK is the winning combination. Vaderstad Tempo has excelled in this regard, apparently right in stubble too.

Many of them are simply waiting for the soil to dry enough to zero till. We do a shallow cultivation which allows just enough tilth to get us drilled in good time.

 

[Philip Hedeng]

Many of them are simply waiting for the soil to dry enough to zero till. We do a shallow cultivation which allows just enough tilth to get us drilled in good time.

I live in the wettest parts of Sweden, and generally drilling mid-April or even a bit earlier is normal here. I don't think we have to wait longer to start drilling than others around us that cultivate the same kind of soils either. Fascinating, with so much difference in latitude.

 

[Fish]

I like s barley as a no till crop, and have had good crops so far, even if drilled in mid April, 6.9t ha mid April drilled in 18, 7.2t ha April drilled this year.

 

[Simon Chiles]

Spring barley seems to be the one crop around here that doesn’t respond well to no till. I think it’s partly down to people waiting until late April to drill it.

We’ve had decent crops of spring barley that were planted in mid May, 8t/ha which is as good as it’s ever going to get on this soil type. I’ve never found that sowing date makes much difference, the weather throughout the season has a far bigger influence.

 

[martian]

We've had something of a drought round here from April onwards, these last few years. Late planted barley took a long time to get going and yields have been disappointing, even where we thought we'd got the soil in great condition. Must be doing something wrong...

 

[neilo]

With being pulled in all directions this Spring, I had a neighbour in to combi-drill a couple of my fields of S.Barley this year, after I cultivated it. The rest I DD’ed ten days later with my Simtech. It was all rolled after drilling, and again after it was going well, to help it tiller more, as I always do.

The combi-drilled crop looked better for the first couple of months, but the DD’ed crop out yielded it significantly. I’ve never had over 4t/ac from S.Barley before, and might never again. It was supposed to be DD W.Barley by now, but most is still in stubble.

 

[Adeptandy]

With being pulled in all directions this Spring, I had a neighbour in to combi-drill a couple of my fields of S.Barley this year, after I cultivated it. The rest I DD’ed ten days later with my Simtech. It was all rolled after drilling, and again after it was going well, to help it tiller more, as I always do.

The combi-drilled crop looked better for the first couple of months, but the DD’ed crop out yielded it significantly. I’ve never had over 4t/ac from S.Barley before, and might never again. It was supposed to be DD W.Barley by now, but most is still in stubble.

Did fill the drill up yesterday, but another 8mm this morning will keep it in the shed

 

[neilo]

Did fill the drill up yesterday, but another 8mm this morning will keep it in the shed

I've optimistically left some WB in the drill ready to go. An hour ago I did try to have a walk across the 2 fields I did DD a fortnight ago, and gave up after sinking 3" into the pudding. I'm glad I haven't tried to waste any money on pre-emergence or slug pellets, but just wish I'd left all the volunteer Spring Barley unsprayed to keep some life in the soil over winter.

I think it's safe to say I'll need to empty the drill shortly, and forget it until the Spring.