Written by cpm
Download PDF Whether to drill is the question that many growers are considering when it comes to oilseed rape. Is it still worth the risk? CPM talks to Hutchinson’s Dick Neale. If seedbeds are dry, don’t waste time and resource sowing OSR. By Lucy de la Pasture Without a doubt, cabbage stem flea beetle has wrought havoc to oilseed rape crop emergence in recent seasons but this has been vastly exacerbated by the very dry conditions the crop has been drilled into, hampering its ability to get up and away, says Hutchinsons’ Dick Neale. He believes that adequate moisture in the seedbed is the key driver in the decision whether or not to drill OSR this autumn. The days when it was possible to establish rape by broadcasting seed after a pass with the subsoiler are probably behind us. “Lack of moisture in the seedbed has been a dominant factor in the past two seasons and where seed was planted into dry and dusty seedbeds, germination and subsequent crop emergence was slow and erratic, depending on where the seminal roots found moisture as the crop germinated. “This staggered emergence pattern was like a picnic for the pest and they picked…
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