OSR companion crops

snarling bee

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
My idea to try this August is to somehow drill the OSR seed into a foot high cover and then terminate the cover. I just need to judge when to establish the cover crop. I'm not really sure how I am going to drill the OSR without pushing over the cover crop. Slugs could also be a huge issue.
 

Luke Cropwalker

Member
Arable Farmer
My idea to try this August is to somehow drill the OSR seed into a foot high cover and then terminate the cover. I just need to judge when to establish the cover crop. I'm not really sure how I am going to drill the OSR without pushing over the cover crop. Slugs could also be a huge issue.
I wondered about doing something like this. Possibly drill a bit of barley off the heap in wide rows and establish the OSR in between the barley rows? Easy enough to take the barley out with a graminicide when the time is right.
 

moretimeforgolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North Kent, UK
I am drilling burseem and white clover these days with the intention of carrying the white clover forward, in the early days I always had a yield response of 0.3-0.5t/ha when doing trials now it is standard practice for me.
Good to hear. Which herbicides are safe to use without killing the white clover?
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
As I haven’t had a response I assume farmers have moved on from the techniques they were using two years ago.If that’s the case do many of you still plant companion crops with your OSR, if so which companion crops do you plant as a matter of course each year.
 

chaffcutter

Moderator
Arable Farmer
Location
S. Staffs
We’ve sown beans and linseed with our rape, sown early and it’s established well. It’s about to get some Belkar so I will be able to answer the question of what survives shortly!
 
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Michael S

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Matching Green
I plant about 7kg/ha buckwheat, this year half common and half Lifago, and 3.5kg/ha berseem clover as companions. I've been doing this for 5 years and whilst I don't think it the be all and end all I think it helps with establishment along with no-till, longish stubble and organic manure when available. The establishment of the clover is never great, although good this year; this year the buckwheat seems a bit shy but I didn't have any pig slurry available so perhaps that makes the biggest difference? Having said that the the forage rape (for seed) establishment looks good and it has had 30kg/ha N out of the bag. I also mix in 3kg/ha slug pellets.
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Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
We’ve sown beans and linseed with our rape, sown early and it’s established well. It’s about to get some Bella so I will be able to answer the question of what survives shortly!
I plant about 7kg/ha buckwheat, this year half common and half Lifago, and 3.5kg/ha berseem clover as companions. I've been doing this for 5 years and whilst I don't think it the be all and end all I think it helps with establishment along with no-till, longish stubble and organic manure when available. The establishment of the clover is never great, although good this year; this year the buckwheat seems a bit shy but I didn't have any pig slurry available so perhaps that makes the biggest difference? Having said that the the forage rape (for seed) establishment looks good and it has had 30kg/ha N out of the bag. I also mix in 3kg/ha slug pellets. View attachment 1067092View attachment 1067093View attachment 1067094View attachment 1067095View attachment 1067096View attachment 1067097
Thank you very much for your posts.
In due course , I would be interested to know what rate of OSR seed you are planting with the companion crops.
I ask as the companion crop I have seen growing ( mainly Buckwheat) looks as though if it is more vigorous/ dominant than the OSR , so does the buckwheat retard the growth of the OSR?
Slightly off topic.
Mentioning rape plants being retarded, also brings to mind how rape plants are “Severely” retarded in where the swath chaff/straw rows were behind the combine, especially after winter barley.
Do any of you cut combine your winter barley , that is to be followed by W.OSR,extremely slowly so as to cut combine losses down to a minimum although it really does bring down the daily output of your combine.
I guess the rape plants growing in the combine swaths are retarded for various reasons, smothering but also do the acids created by the chaff breaking down also retard the OSR plants?
 

stroller

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Somerset UK
4kg buckwheat 3kg hss osr , slugs seem to enjoy eating the buckwheat as much as the osr, lots of bees on the buckwheat, which is probably justification for planting it anyway even if companion cropping is questionable.
 

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Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
5 kg/ha buckwheat sown with the osr here. Both are struggling with a lack of moisture and the CSFB have done a lot of damage to the osr. Frankly, it's just another £12.70/ha wasted, as well as the time spent blending the seed in small batches as we had fertiliser in the front hopper.
 

BenAdamsAgri

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Oxfordshire
5 kg/ha buckwheat sown with the osr here. Both are struggling with a lack of moisture and the CSFB have done a lot of damage to the osr. Frankly, it's just another £12.70/ha wasted, as well as the time spent blending the seed in small batches as we had fertiliser in the front hopper.

Will you write it off or too early to tell?
 

Case290

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Worcestershire
I’ve got a accidental strip of mustard / osr and the osr is a lot stronger probably 2 as good as the main field. That’s what I’d be doing next yr
 

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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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