Written by cpm
An extraordinary autumn and winter will likely call for some unusual tactics this spring. CPM looks at how early spring nitrogen and weeds can be managed to get the best out of crops in the ground. There are so many variables to take into account this year. By Rob Jones, Lucy de la Pasture and Charlotte Cunningham Understanding the effects of the wet autumn and relatively mild winter to date and estimating fertiliser requirements for 2020 will be extremely challenging, believes soil N testing specialist Dr Mechteld Blake-Kalff of Hill Court Farm Research in Gloucestershire. Slow-growing crops, with poorly developed root systems may be less able to take up nutrients. Whilst the overriding picture is one of significant rainfall and potentially high levels of N loss from soils, this could be an oversimplification with highly variable conditions across the country complicating matters, she says. “It’s very difficult to paint an overall picture. It’s been very wet, but some areas have been affected much more than others. Poor weather in itself doesn’t necessarily have as bad an effect on N levels as people think, particularly on heavier soils, but lighter ones can be a problem. “It’s likely the…
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