Spring barley looking poor...

[bobk]

Still hanging on, but the last few days of wind have taken their toll. Burning up in patches, and a few more weeks of dry weather, then the rest of it'll follow suit.

View attachment 882894

When did you sow it , miles ahead of mine .

 

[7610 super q]

When did you sow it , miles ahead of mine .

25th March.

 

[bobk]

25th March.

Only a week then , suspect mine is hiding .

 

[Manny]

Some of mine planted on the 10th April is putting awns out at less than a foot tall. Not looking good at all.

 

[Wombat]

Same . Dad's always said get it ploughed before Christmas or it's only half a crop .

Only thing I would say is winter ploughing in wrong conditions can be just as bad as March or April ploughed .

My worst barley field is one I never even tried to plough in winter . By febuary I was planning to fallow it but then it got dry and the sun came out so took the risk to sow it . It was ploughed April , power harrowed 48hours later , drilled I'm sure 48hours later and rolled tight behind drill . Looked good as I left field thinking it'll be fine . Patchy mess .

The oat field pictures near start of topic , had many ploughing attempts form November to mid March. Walking it now the best bit was a single day I got going well in January. Rest is pretty poor and patchy so shows the wrong conditions before Christmas can be just as bad as good conditions in March.

Another field that I had left as stubble got a last minute claydon demo and finished with min till , it is some of the best emergence I have had from fence to fence , with just last years combine wheelings showing up .

Pic 1 April ploughed mess. 2 claydon . 3 mintill

Tough year all round 2020 . Definitely year of the cluster for the world . View attachment 882802View attachment 882804View attachment 882807

My March/April min till looks like your April ploughing, I was a bit concerned to roll it too hard incase it rained. As it was I should have triple rolled it

Wettest Feb on record then less than 40mm in 3 months has been a challenge

 

[SilliamWhale]

Still hanging on, but the last few days of wind have taken their toll. Burning up in patches, and a few more weeks of dry weather, then the rest of it'll follow suit.

View attachment 882894

Mine sown 2 weeks later is not as good as that. It could have been with rain but this year those 2 weeks have made a difference. It will be booting its crappy little head out in 10 days.

 

[Devon James]

So if two crops that were drilled within a few days of each other, one is coming into ear sooner than the other. Is that a good sign for more yield or less? Which crop would be less stressed by this weather?

 

[ajd132]

Snapped this walking the baby yesterday afternoon

 

[JCfarmer]

What ryegrass, blackgrass,weeds???

 

[ajd132]

What ryegrass, blackgrass,weeds???

The road verge...

 

[DRC]

Seems to be hanging on better than the wheat or winter barley . Daft thing is, this field was after maize and it was ploughed in far from ideal conditions.( not proud, but desperation had set in) I had to stop as the wheels were spinning on the tractor , but managed to finish it on the only frost we had . Drilling time it was still pretty wet, as had to go back and drill wet holes a couple of weeks later. If ever there was a field that was going to suffer compaction, I thought it’d be this one.
Maybe it’s the wet I ploughed under that’s kept it going !!

 

[Cowcorn]

Seems to be hanging on better than the wheat or winter barley . Daft thing is, this field was after maize and it was ploughed in far from ideal conditions.( not proud, but desperation had set in) I had to stop as the wheels were spinning on the tractor , but managed to finish it on the only frost we had . Drilling time it was still pretty wet, as had to go back and drill wet holes a couple of weeks later. If ever there was a field that was going to suffer compaction, I thought it’d be this one.
Maybe it’s the wet I ploughed under that’s kept it going !!View attachment 883521

You can get away with a fair bit of mucking after maize ,beet,, or potatoes . I think its the resuidal fert thats gives the crop a push . Try it after oats or rape and it will go pear shaped . Intresting theory about ploughing down the mud my man Normam likes to sink the plough as deep as the tractor will pull it on the headlands it must be some help because my continous wheat is very even on the headlands even though their are thin spots in the middle

 

[John Slejpner]

Seems to be hanging on better than the wheat or winter barley . Daft thing is, this field was after maize and it was ploughed in far from ideal conditions.( not proud, but desperation had set in) I had to stop as the wheels were spinning on the tractor , but managed to finish it on the only frost we had . Drilling time it was still pretty wet, as had to go back and drill wet holes a couple of weeks later. If ever there was a field that was going to suffer compaction, I thought it’d be this one.
Maybe it’s the wet I ploughed under that’s kept it going !!View attachment 883521

The textbooks , especially american ones, say tillage of saturated soil is preferable to tillage of wet soils that still have some air. Hydraulic pressure of water in the soil etc.

 

[Chae1]

Ours has awns out too. Earliest I can ever remember. I'd say we are at least 2 weeks further on than normal. Been in again with pgr on lush stuff, 0.3l ha ipanaema.

If the weather forecasts correct we will get a fair bit of rain tomorrow and next few days. I think it will grow like crazy when it gets moisture and a hold of more N.

Early start tomorrow to finish pgr before rain at around 12.

 

[Chae1]

So if two crops that were drilled within a few days of each other, one is coming into ear sooner than the other. Is that a good sign for more yield or less? Which crop would be less stressed by this weather?

On our ground, the poorer thinner bits are coming into ear first.

Drought stress will make it go to ear quicker.

 

[Properjob]

Seems to be hanging on better than the wheat or winter barley . Daft thing is, this field was after maize and it was ploughed in far from ideal conditions.( not proud, but desperation had set in) I had to stop as the wheels were spinning on the tractor , but managed to finish it on the only frost we had . Drilling time it was still pretty wet, as had to go back and drill wet holes a couple of weeks later. If ever there was a field that was going to suffer compaction, I thought it’d be this one.
Maybe it’s the wet I ploughed under that’s kept it going !!View attachment 883521

It is not because you ploughed wet down, it is more that by ploughing you aerated a severely rain compacted top couple of inches of soil. A couple of inches that through 6 months of heavy rainfall had lost plenty of it's nutrients, by ploughing you brought more to the surface, mineralised N and your crop got its roots developing early on. In my experience direct drilling of spring crops to conserve moisture is the biggest myth of all times, it is all about establishment at the right time, well sown is half gown. Been spraying T2 on SB all day and have one very steep field that can only be direct drilled (can't pull Topdown up it) that faces North so hanging in there and looking ok. The best SB is all after potatoes with a destroyed soil structure yet nutrients retained via an oil radish cover crop at the surface. With over 600 acres of SB and similar rainfall some is 2ft tall and some 10 inches, the best crops are all those that had proper cultivations early on. Spring crops need to get up and away as quickly as possible.

 

[Captain Slack]

Barley sown first week of April, no moisture was lost establishing this crop.

 

[Bossfarmer]

On our ground, the poorer thinner bits are coming into ear first.

Drought stress will make it go to ear quicker.

will you loose yield or just straw if it goes into ear quicker?

 

[Bossfarmer]

It is not because you ploughed wet down, it is more that by ploughing you aerated a severely rain compacted top couple of inches of soil. A couple of inches that through 6 months of heavy rainfall had lost plenty of it's nutrients, by ploughing you brought more to the surface, mineralised N and your crop got its roots developing early on. In my experience direct drilling of spring crops to conserve moisture is the biggest myth of all times, it is all about establishment at the right time, well sown is half gown. Been spraying T2 on SB all day and have one very steep field that can only be direct drilled (can't pull Topdown up it) that faces North so hanging in there and looking ok. The best SB is all after potatoes with a destroyed soil structure yet nutrients retained via an oil radish cover crop at the surface. With over 600 acres of SB and similar rainfall some is 2ft tall and some 10 inches, the best crops are all those that had proper cultivations early on. Spring crops need to get up and away as quickly as possible.

In my experience direct drilling of spring crops to conserve moisture is the biggest myth of all times

interesting because the top few inches of soil were bone dry when we were ploughing end march/start april so id imagine direct drilling into that wouldnt be ideal, however ploughing was bringing up damper soil from below, the drill was basically following the plough and heavy grass rollers behind drill, surely this is the way to do it in a dry spring? fert down spout and muck ploughed in!

 

[Chae1]

will you loose yield or just straw if it goes into ear quicker?

Both its dropped tillers, so thinner.

This is a better bit. Had a blocked nozzle this morning and took a picture when out. Was a fair dew. Boilersuit was soaked walking through it.