Spring OSR

[64farmer giles]

Struggling to get one piece of winter OSR established, if it fails and needs ripping out what sort of yield could I expect from Spring OSR and which variety would you recommend for heavy land, thanks in advance.

 

[Shutesy]

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/spring-osr-am-i-mad.159436/

I think the general consensus, mine included, is don't bother. We had pollen beetle eating the developing pods on ours when we tried 2 years ago!

 

[Badshot]

My spring osr experiment was a shocker.
Pollen beetle galore, didn't grow because it was too dry, but not so dry the Orache didn't grow.
I've now got a 50:50 mix of osr / Orache.
Bird seed anyone?

 

[franklin]

Might get more yield by ordering undressed seed, and tipping the bags straight into the lorry sent to collect it.

 

[mo!]

We grew it about 4 years ago, it was great, until we realise that we'd sown hectare packs per acre! We had lots of straw and an ok yield. Next time we tried it was a disaster. The only bit that came was where @Boothy had his trial. So try it if you have home saved seed and can lather it on.

 

[Jim Bullock]

I would fallow the land and get in good shape for the following wheat crop rather than wasting time and money trying to grow spring rape.
In the dim distant past (30 years ago) we managed to grow over a ton to the acre of spring rape, but it was planted on March 5th into a perfect seedbed and we had a really warm early spring. Since then the best we have managed since then is half a ton and in recent years most of the crops have failed due to flea beetle or have been decimated by the herbicides.

 

[Badshot]

I think I'd plant some red clover to build fertility next time.

 

[Bramble]

I'll admit I ignored the advice on here and drilled 25ac of Dodger in a field that has never grown wheat well.

Result is as yet unknown!!! It's still in the field, half the plants are dead, lots are still green, some are still flowering!!! It's been sprayed with podstik to try and reduce losses. The plants are very short, but lots of pods that have a good number of seeds in them.

Combining date???, hopefully this side of Christmas!

 

[Boothy]

We grew it about 4 years ago, it was great, until we realise that we'd sown hectare packs per acre! We had lots of straw and an ok yield. Next time we tried it was a disaster. The only bit that came was where @Boothy had his trial. So try it if you have home saved seed and can lather it on.

I remember those plots very well mainly because I was there every few days either slug pelleting or spraying for pollen beetle it wasn't a good year for spring rape that year!

 

[Flat 10]

I'll admit I ignored the advice on here and drilled 25ac of Dodger in a field that has never grown wheat well.

Result is as yet unknown!!! It's still in the field, half the plants are dead, lots are still green, some are still flowering!!! It's been sprayed with podstik to try and reduce losses. The plants are very short, but lots of pods that have a good number of seeds in them.

Combining date???, hopefully this side of Christmas!

 

[Flasheart]

It's the only crop I've ever had a total loss on, never again!

 

[jimcooke770]

Planted 12 ha in April .
6 ha never came up , sprayed the other 6 ha 3 times for flea beetle then Roundup and planted peas on 1 May
3 ton ha

 

[Gong Farmer]

This has been discussed before but on heavier soils it can never get to maturity
Pollen beetle move in well before stem extension, can easily imagine six or more sprays needed between then and flowering..
Loss of treflan made weed control very difficult.

In short, there has to be a better option.

 

[SilliamWhale]

It can do quite well down here. Before neonics went at least

 

[Drillman]

Friend of mine grows spring rape organically. Now there's a challenge.

 

[Mr Charisma]

I'll admit I ignored the advice on here and drilled 25ac of Dodger in a field that has never grown wheat well.

Result is as yet unknown!!! It's still in the field, half the plants are dead, lots are still green, some are still flowering!!! It's been sprayed with podstik to try and reduce losses. The plants are very short, but lots of pods that have a good number of seeds in them.

Combining date???, hopefully this side of Christmas!

Good luck ,,,,,, hope you have a nice chrimbo !!!!!!!!

 

[Barry]

I would probably budget no more than about half a tonne an acre, though I have seen some very good yields at a tonne +.

But the performance can be very variable!

Not huge amounts of difference between varieties to be honest. A lot of the hybrids are an improvement on yield over the conventionals but Tamarin the leading conventional is earlier.

Only a couple of official trials done a year - at most 3 if I remember correctly. So you really can't draw that much of a conclusion on the yield front.

Barry

 

[chipchap]

Now here's a thought for discussion.
Has Spring OSR become a disaster because of the residues of chemicals used on previous crops, perhaps for the control of blackgrass, AND because we are now killing all the predators of pollen beetle and all the other horrendous pests with our insect control policy elsewhere in the rotation?
Anecdotal evidence - do you see many ladybirds and earwigs in your trailer of wheat at harvest these days?
PS all my wheat seed has been deter dressed this Autumn.

 

[yellow belly]

the biggest problem in spring rape is weed control relies on good quick establishment
if you get that then it is a very profitable crop

if we had a herbicide that would kill all the weeds 4 weeks after planting winter rape would not be grown
this is available to our competitors and their product imported to our markets

 

[bobk]

I would fallow the land and get in good shape for the following wheat crop rather than wasting time and money trying to grow spring rape.
In the dim distant past (30 years ago) we managed to grow over a ton to the acre of spring rape, but it was planted on March 5th into a perfect seedbed and we had a really warm early spring. Since then the best we have managed since then is half a ton and in recent years most of the crops have failed due to flea beetle or have been decimated by the herbicides.

Is next years going to be better ?