sowing now %

[bankrupt]

see what the weather is like next week

Well, who'da thunk it?



Now done 105% due to having expected another 2012 autumn (see above) but actually seem to have got another 1978 (when some of the September planted wheats germinated well after Christmas).

Now needing to replace the losses, as we had to then, due to the rook and the crow.

If it stays dry, it'll be up to 110% or so by this time next week.

Only consolation is, 1979 was the best harvest ever, hereabouts.

 

[Mr Charisma]

Certainly a new thing around here , Stratford Mop is on the 2 nd week of October , the local farming saying goes along the lines of only a fool wants to go on the big rides and only a fool would want to plant winter corn after the Mop has left town .
This year however is different !!!! It won't always be the case , we started winter ploughing today for spring cropping ,,,,,,,, its fair to say that the land is ploughing the best I've ever seen it plough , red marl banks that usually just turn half way horribly is turning off the mouldboard lovely ,it almost looks like a professional ploughman has been ploughing

 

[4course]

all done, finished last little field thursday, delayed a bit due to applying lime and gypsum after soil testing on the other earlier stuff prior to sowing but hopefully will see the benefit in due course ,all pre emd bar some clean land and p.k. applied as recquired, all the rest now full rows or at least filling in and poking out, no slug pellets needed at all so its time for a little less pressure and this last 24 hrs more or less solid heavy showers inc sleet has made any further landwork highly unlikely here so just in time , costs have been kept down re hire tractor, repairs, labour and fert applied was less than last year and forward bought N is also at least 15% less and grain at current and forward is more than I thought so sat here with a rosy glow , what can go wrong?

 

[Mr Charisma]

Starting to get ready to redrill some tomorrow . Not much but I have a 3 acre patch and a 10 acre field which it looks like the BG has beaten the pre em , the 3 acre bit I don't mind but it will be a unsureal feeling spraying a field of WW off which is in full row , decision time tomorrow morning

 

[Lincsman]

100% done here now, nothing showing yet as its all gone in during the last 10 days, the amount of Blackgrass just emerged and sprayed off on the last fields has me worried we didnt wait long enough for the first ones... but its raining now and the first ones were cleaner fields...time will tell.

 

[ZXR17]

Finished today. I was going to wait longer but heavy rain forecast here this afternoon and showers later in the week. The field would need several weeks dry weather once it gets wet at this time of year.
Had the chance to spray off another flush of bg last night. I got up early and drilled it this morning, 220kg 425 seeds/metre of Skyfall, raining now.

 

[Timbo1080]

Certainly a new thing around here , Stratford Mop is on the 2 nd week of October , the local farming saying goes along the lines of only a fool wants to go on the big rides and only a fool would want to plant winter corn after the Mop has left town .
This year however is different !!!! It won't always be the case , we started winter ploughing today for spring cropping ,,,,,,,, its fair to say that the land is ploughing the best I've ever seen it plough , red marl banks that usually just turn half way horribly is turning off the mouldboard lovely ,it almost looks like a professional ploughman has been ploughing

What is Stratford Mop? Why do they say "Only a fool would..." and who are they? I'm not saying that the date that we traditionally start here would apply or necessarily be possible at other places, but here in the wet west, on our land, we try our best to make it work, despite most around us saying the same as "them".

I asked a friend why the top of one of his sheep pastures was so wet in the middle of summer & his reply was that it always was...his father said so. I asked how his father knew this, and he said that his grandfather had said so......I asked if he'd tried doing anything about it & he said that there was no point as it just always sat wet here. I gave him a spade & we dug a hole. No spring, no weirdness, just really poached. Lovely soil, dry and crumbly about 3 inches down, but slop on top. You and I know what we would do, but he just said, "see, just as grandfather had said".

I'm not saying that it is normally possible (It has been an exceptional autumn for the last decade), but I am always astonished by how so much hangs on old sayings (Not saying that some aren't true, some of the time...Cookoo corn anyone?), and what the old boys said. I could quite happily rebuff the locals that say "only a fool drills after Pack Monday has left town" (First Monday after October 10th), by saying that my father (Just about an old boy), says just the reverse. Or better still, only a fool drills before the last major flush of Blackgrass.

We could still drill after today's rain (not for a while) but would be using our old (But by no means knackered) KRM R600 tine drill, no bother, and it wouldn't be a mess provided that we picked the conditions correctly (And they will occur even after now, more often than not). If not, then I'm happy to plant Linseed. Either way, if the Blackgrass is still flushing majorly, what's the point?!

I really didn't expect to still be using the shiny new drill still!

Finished today. I was going to wait longer but heavy rain forecast here this afternoon and showers later in the week. The field would need several weeks dry weather once it gets wet at this time of year.
Had the chance to spray off another flush of bg last night. I got up early and drilled it this morning, 220kg 425 seeds/metre of Skyfall, raining now.

Glad you got it in, we finished today too, and I am amazed by the recent flushes...I hope you have a kind winter WRT the salt air. Did the heavy rain materialise with you? I was expecting it too, but have had very kind drizzle so far instead.

 

[Flat 10]

If the forecast is to be believed then tonight/tomorrows rain will make it game over on heavier land in the east of the country.....
well done if you waited until last week. I didn't!

 

[ZXR17]

@Timbo1080, We have had 5mm so far and is still raining although not particularly heavy and more forecast tomorrow and Friday. It would only need a bit of rain each week now to keep it too wet to drill so glad its in.
Thanks for your sentiment regarding salt. We got hammered last year, several times. We had already been hit this time last year. 45 to 50 mph winds forecast in the morning but north westerly so should be ok.

 

[David.]

All finished up today. 2nd BG flush sprayed Friday. 210kg/ha Costello and Siskin. Lovely seedbed, the field I would drill first in a wet time.
Only 3 bits wheat up, all after pasture ploughed out.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

We're just under half way with the wheat.

Quite wet after spuds, very dry after anything else.

 

[Brisel]

11mm rain here last night. I'm off to see if any slugs have resurfaced.

 

[Vernon]

16mm rain here last night. Ideal today to plough and follow with the combi drill, barley after grass. Was too dry previously. Still fairly dry now. 12 acres left for tomorrow then start winter ploughing.
Vernon

 

[David.]

Rather surprisingly, there was 22mm inn the rain gauge this morning.
Better fetch the rolls home I reckon.

 

[Mr Charisma]

What is Stratford Mop? Why do they say "Only a fool would..." and who are they? I'm not saying that the date that we traditionally start here would apply or necessarily be possible at other places, but here in the wet west, on our land, we try our best to make it work, despite most around us saying the same as "them".

I asked a friend why the top of one of his sheep pastures was so wet in the middle of summer & his reply was that it always was...his father said so. I asked how his father knew this, and he said that his grandfather had said so......I asked if he'd tried doing anything about it & he said that there was no point as it just always sat wet here. I gave him a spade & we dug a hole. No spring, no weirdness, just really poached. Lovely soil, dry and crumbly about 3 inches down, but slop on top. You and I know what we would do, but he just said, "see, just as grandfather had said".

I'm not saying that it is normally possible (It has been an exceptional autumn for the last decade), but I am always astonished by how so much hangs on old sayings (Not saying that some aren't true, some of the time...Cookoo corn anyone?), and what the old boys said. I could quite happily rebuff the locals that say "only a fool drills after Pack Monday has left town" (First Monday after October 10th), by saying that my father (Just about an old boy), says just the reverse. Or better still, only a fool drills before the last major flush of Blackgrass.

We could still drill after today's rain (not for a while) but would be using our old (But by no means knackered) KRM R600 tine drill, no bother, and it wouldn't be a mess provided that we picked the conditions correctly (And they will occur even after now, more often than not). If not, then I'm happy to plant Linseed. Either way, if the Blackgrass is still flushing majorly, what's the point?!

I really didn't expect to still be using the shiny new drill still!



Glad you got it in, we finished today too, and I am amazed by the recent flushes...I hope you have a kind winter WRT the salt air. Did the heavy rain materialise with you? I was expecting it too, but have had very kind drizzle so far instead.

Stratford Mop is when the fair comes to Stratford , all the local farmers want to be drilled up by 'mop week's but times are changing . This year has been quite a laid back drilling campaign in the end , but I will have to learn not to become complacent next year , 23mm of rain we had last night , with normal soil moisture that would be enough to keep us off our marl ground for 1 to 2 weeks and even then we would be wanting favourable conditions to dry the ground out .
But the bit that worry me on this delayed drilling malarkey is what yield hit will we take , drilling in the week or so before Stratford Mop we can see yields of approaching 10 ton / ha , drilling a week or two after the Mop and yields of 5 to 6 ton / ha are not uncommon around here
Yes we have spring planting we can fall back on , but I already have a acreage built into my rotation but could I cope with any more linseed ,,,,,,,, doubtful , would I plant anymore spring barley , that's a difficult one , everyone is planting the stuff around here , I hope there's a market for it all , spring beans ,,,,, got enough winter ones in the ground ,,,,,,,,,, may be I could make my fortune out of spring rape

Some how I don't think so

 

[Timbo1080]

Stratford Mop is when the fair comes to Stratford , all the local farmers want to be drilled up by 'mop week's but times are changing . This year has been quite a laid back drilling campaign in the end , but I will have to learn not to become complacent next year , 23mm of rain we had last night , with normal soil moisture that would be enough to keep us off our marl ground for 1 to 2 weeks and even then we would be wanting favourable conditions to dry the ground out .
But the bit that worry me on this delayed drilling malarkey is what yield hit will we take , drilling in the week or so before Stratford Mop we can see yields of approaching 10 ton / ha , drilling a week or two after the Mop and yields of 5 to 6 ton / ha are not uncommon around here
Yes we have spring planting we can fall back on , but I already have a acreage built into my rotation but could I cope with any more linseed ,,,,,,,, doubtful , would I plant anymore spring barley , that's a difficult one , everyone is planting the stuff around here , I hope there's a market for it all , spring beans ,,,,, got enough winter ones in the ground ,,,,,,,,,, may be I could make my fortune out of spring rape

Some how I don't think so

Thanks for the explanation....I'm guessing that it's the same fair people as we have at "Pack Monday".
I'm utterly clueless on anything other than our soil type & location(I have some recently acquired silt, and hell, its the bane of my life.) and wouldn't suppose to assume that what is possible, or works for us, would work elsewhere or on a different soil type. We've had around 16mm now, but it wouldn't worry if we weren't finished.
Do you really expect the yield potential to half over the period of 2 weeks in the autumn, or is it more a matter of people panicking and mauling it in, in rubbish conditions? We've not seen any particular yield penalty going into the middle of November with winter wheat, but certainly have if we've pushed it and mauled it in.

 

[Mr Charisma]

I'm not the panicky type and very rarely have I mauled stuff in but yes I have and see that sort of yield losses from mid October to the beginning of Nov ,,,,, not all the time but enuff to make me very cautious of Nov drilling

 

[Timbo1080]

I'm not the panicky type and very rarely have I mauled stuff in but yes I have and see that sort of yield losses from mid October to the beginning of Nov ,,,,, not all the time but enuff to make me very cautious of Nov drilling

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to imply that you would panic & maul it in-I was rather assuming that the "yields of 5-6 ton/ha are not uncommon" was referring others in the area.
I guess the point that I was trying to make was that I would rather :

1. Drill in good conditions with the last major flush of BG behind me, even if it was November/December, (Even if there was a yield penalty, which I don't recall seeing before) rather than,
2. Drill in good conditions before the last major flush, or maul it in after the last major flush.

2 things are paramount to me, therefore. A good seedbed/drilling conditions, and doing it after the last major flush. Both must happen to make it worthwhile drilling. Biggest yield penalty for us, was hammering it in to a crap seedbed, rather than waiting a fortnight for better conditions. The later drilled, but in good conditions far out yielded the earlier mauled in stuff.

The more I think about this season, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that it has not been a kind one. My reason being that although the weather has allowed later than normal drilling for most around here, the Blackgrass flushes have also been very much later than normal. I feel that if there is a Blackgrass problem, delayed drilling is really determined by the Blackgrass flushes, rather than the date.

 

[wuddy]

No, but we use a Phillips Rotary harrow instead of a rake. And haven't put tramlines in for several years.

What do you all use your Phillips rotary Harrow for! We have been thinking about getting one to do the first pass on stubbles. Would be good to here your opinion on the Harrow.

 

[Hammer]

What do you all use your Phillips rotary Harrow for! We have been thinking about getting one to do the first pass on stubbles. Would be good to here your opinion on the Harrow.

We mainly use it after drilling and before rolling as it does a great job of levelling ridges left by Claydon and breaking large clods, then rolls do a much more effective job. It doesn't do much as a first pass over stubble unless ground is moist or lighter land. It is also impossible to block it with trash!