osr sowing survival strategy

[4course]

ive not grown w osr for years ,but due to this last years cropping /resowings etc amhaving to put in an extra couple of fields into a break so have sown one of them in osr last monday, having just walked it can find plenty thats chitted and sending a root out helped by the moisture from the last few days of heavy fog and mizzle, my question is when would most folks go on with the first insecticide its had seedbed fert and if it comes into rows will be getting a N top up .Having had a disaster this spring with some sp osr on another block im watching it like a hawk

 

[Clive]

Dont apply insecticides, and certainly don’t ever do so based based on a date or growth stage !

if you see a csfb problem get them tested for resistance and on the small chance they are not resistant apply if you get above threshold

 

[Brisel]

No insecticide unless you get a serious problem. By the time you've got the results back from testing bugs the crop will be gone but worth doing anyway for future reference.

I will reinforce this - NO ROUTINE INSECTICDES! That's what helped speed up the development of resistance in the first place. If your agronomist recommends sprays, please ask why. Sack them if they just say it's for "insurance."

 

[4course]

thanks for both of the above replies , the issue is having lost a crop this spring to the critters or their mates ( sp osr) when we took the approach of wait till you can see the whites of their eyes or the holes where theve been they wont be getting a second chance to reduce my grandkids inheritance .We havnt had an osr crop anywhere near for years ,was and still am hoping they wouldnt be here or at least not in numbers, my agronomist who is first class took the approach of wait and see in the spring ,I disagreed with him then , it cost us a crop (we all make mistakes) though not helped by slow emergence and my bad choice of low seed rate hybred seed ,another lesson learned. So as its unlikely we will be putting osr in as a regular crop in the future im minded to adopt a shoot first ask questions later strategy plus the nights are warm and humid ideal weather for the feckers so im going to sneak out under the cover of darkness and if I find the little ------they will be in great danger ,the question is if on finding some do I wait until emergence or go get em and then risk having to go again

 

[Brisel]

Which critters are you referring to? Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle?

You can't prevent them with a pre em insecticide but will have to hit them directly which means a night time spray from emergence onwards. For monitoring them you need a yellow shallow bowl in the crop with some soapy water in.

 

[4course]

my understanding is they can do damage to the about to emerge seedling and thus if I can find them ,better sooner than later but maybe wait a couple or more days as the seedlings arnt yet there in numbers but wont be long , thanks for the yellow bowl advice have just raided the grandkids plate cupboard and found one

 

[B'o'B]

thanks for both of the above replies , the issue is having lost a crop this spring to the critters or their mates ( sp osr) when we took the approach of wait till you can see the whites of their eyes or the holes where theve been they wont be getting a second chance to reduce my grandkids inheritance .We havnt had an osr crop anywhere near for years ,was and still am hoping they wouldnt be here or at least not in numbers, my agronomist who is first class took the approach of wait and see in the spring ,I disagreed with him then , it cost us a crop (we all make mistakes) though not helped by slow emergence and my bad choice of low seed rate hybred seed ,another lesson learned. So as its unlikely we will be putting osr in as a regular crop in the future im minded to adopt a shoot first ask questions later strategy plus the nights are warm and humid ideal weather for the feckers so im going to sneak out under the cover of darkness and if I find the little ------they will be in great danger ,the question is if on finding some do I wait until emergence or go get em and then risk having to go again

If they CSFB were that bad then it is unlikely that you would have had a crop even if you had sprayed.

 

[4course]

If they CSFB were that bad then it is unlikely that you would have had a crop even if you had sprayed.

possibly right but we were too late imo ,the conditions at emergence where such that it was slow , protracted and such a small seedrate we couldnt /didnt time the repeat well as we waited and missed the chance to get on top of them

 

[Clive]

thanks for both of the above replies , the issue is having lost a crop this spring to the critters or their mates ( sp osr) when we took the approach of wait till you can see the whites of their eyes or the holes where theve been they wont be getting a second chance to reduce my grandkids inheritance .We havnt had an osr crop anywhere near for years ,was and still am hoping they wouldnt be here or at least not in numbers, my agronomist who is first class took the approach of wait and see in the spring ,I disagreed with him then , it cost us a crop (we all make mistakes) though not helped by slow emergence and my bad choice of low seed rate hybred seed ,another lesson learned. So as its unlikely we will be putting osr in as a regular crop in the future im minded to adopt a shoot first ask questions later strategy plus the nights are warm and humid ideal weather for the feckers so im going to sneak out under the cover of darkness and if I find the little ------they will be in great danger ,the question is if on finding some do I wait until emergence or go get em and then risk having to go again

did you test them for resistance?

if resistance you can spray them daily and make no difference other than reducing the kids inheritance even more

 

[4course]

did you test them for resistance?

if resistance you can spray them daily and make no difference other than reducing the kids inheritance even more

no we didnt but having not sprayed any in crop insecticde on or applied any seed insecticide on any of our crops on this block for years would have thought but could be wrong that wouldnt be an issue plus the field is surrounded on 2 sides by houses and not farmland in other peoples occupancy that grow osr

 

[yellow belly]

The most costly element of csfb is that if the crop establishes you keep spending and the larvae then hit you in the spring After you have spent all the costs

the worst I have heard is 146 acres producing 4.6 tonnes and it was yellow in the spring so looked ok at flowering
the best result was to loose the crop in the autumn and plant another crop
2018 replaced 1 block with wheat and harvested 8 tonne per ha of wheat In 2019

the distance to the nearest rape crop last year needs to be a few miles or more to be sure of avoiding them
and it may take a couple of years for numbers to fall

 

[Hindsight]

did you test them for resistance?

if resistance you can spray them daily and make no difference other than reducing the kids inheritance even more

I sympathise with poor 4course. But it was evident from the phrases in first post he is going to spray anyway and possibly more than once. This I have found is the situation for most farms for a few years, then they give up.

 

[Hindsight]

no we didnt but having not sprayed any in crop insecticde on or applied any seed insecticide on any of our crops on this block for years would have thought but could be wrong that wouldnt be an issue plus the field is surrounded on 2 sides by houses and not farmland in other peoples occupancy that grow osr

Best of luck. I can see from your first post the sound of a man who thinks he got it wrong and a routine spray is most appropriate approach. I have got insecticide and non ionic adjuvant on farm ready to spray as soon as rape emerges. I do not necessarily agree but that is what client wants to do, so be it. I shall see how it looks and if rape looks to be growing away aim to talk him out of it. But that is the reality. Hey ho. Good rain here this afternoon, so no lack of moisture and am hoping no two years the same!

Hope your crops grows away.

 

[juke]

I'm not pointing fingers here and I kinda understand people's desperation trying to protect a crop of osr from csfb or wheat from bydv, however there are other ways to offer protection than wasting money on insecticides that don't work anymore, we don't have that silver bullet yet from working with nature but there is lots of work going on to try and find a solution.

 

[Hindsight]

I'm not pointing fingers here and I kinda understand people's desperation trying to protect a crop of osr from csfb or wheat from bydv, however there are other ways to offer protection than wasting money on insecticides that don't work anymore, we don't have that silver bullet yet from working with nature but there is lots of work going on to try and find a solution.

And..... what exactly do you mean by 'working with nature'?

 

[4course]

I sympathise with poor 4course. But it was evident from the phrases in first post he is going to spray anyway and possibly more than once. This I have found is the situation for most farms for a few years, then they give up.

your right ,that was at the time of posting my plan , was hoping to fine tune it a bit , though to get the timings right and not waste effort or harm any or the least beneficials or other crittars as far as I could ,ive already given up on growing osr before that was due in the main to the slug problem in the following cereals and establishment,years ago, but needs must this year and the weather for germination is on our side atm although not for harvesting here so im off to set a trap ,the sprayer is full of water and the chem supplier is on standby

 

[juke]

And..... what exactly do you mean by 'working with nature'?

By working with nature I mean we have to try and encourage as many predator species into our crops be that spiders , beetles or species of wasp. These little fellas are out there 24/7 when the things that are trying kill crops are out there too. It takes time to build and encourage these species , we have spent far too many years being reliant on chemicals that era is coming to an end.there is allways another way and like I said before we just haven't found a guaranteed solution yet.

 

[Mark140259]

We have subsoiled some rape into severn trent sludge. Its up already, a farmer next to us grows sludged wheat, rape sludge wheat rape and so in. They have been doing that for 10 years. Their rape yielded more than anyones round here. I think rape must love sludge as flea beetle is riffe round here.

 

[snarling bee]

if resistance you can spray them daily and make no difference other than reducing the kids inheritance even more

Worse than that, he will be killing off all the beneficials as well. They are probably not resistant to pyrethroids.

 

[4course]

We have subsoiled some rape into severn trent sludge. Its up already, a farmer next to us grows sludged wheat, rape sludge wheat rape and so in. They have been doing that for 10 years. Their rape yielded more than anyones round here. I think rape must love sludge as flea beetle is riffe round here.

it could be that flea beetle doesnt love sludge , was suggested that we spread slurry or digestate on the seedbed unfortunately its a no no for me as last time we used similar was hounded by the local council enviroment officers