Strip till winter barley - hybrid v conventional

Salopian_Will

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Shropshire
First full year with a Claydon. Growing a small area of winter barley - conventional is our preference, however, does anybody have any experience with conventional v hybrid in a wide row scenario? Would the spring vigour of the hybrid help close up the rows for weed suppression? Or will the higher initial plant numbers in the autumn with the conventional be preferred?

Any experiences welcomed.
 

Salopian_Will

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Shropshire
Well you won't beat brome.

.6 liberator plus a DFF top up and late drilling is all you can do
Thanks - you have confirmed what I was thinking. It will be getting the kitchen sink thrown at it pre-em in any event. Barley is a weed in its own right imo... I did see some data from Syngenta comparing brome levels in conventional v hybrid crops suggesting a reduction in the hybrid, which is what prompted the question.

My experience this year was that the thick crops still had the brome, but that there were fewer tillers compared to where it was thin (all conventional).
 

E_B

Member
Location
Norfolk
We have sown Bazooka on 33 cm centre bands, albeit on light ground without a grass weed issue. Did well but seems more likely to fall down on the wide rows. Moved to Funky, a conventional 6 row, always flattered to deceive. Hawking this year massively out performed the Funky next to it and I think we'll be going over to 2 row for a while now, although I wonder if I sowed the Funky too thinly.
 

alomy75

Member
30cm - Bromes will be the biggest issue for us.
When you say 30cm I assume that’s centres? Unless you have a knife coulter of some sort won’t your actual ‘empty soil’ measurement significantly less? I’ve never done the maths but I wonder how much less (if any) ground cover you would get from a Claydon with a wide coulter on vs a ‘conventionally’ spaced drill. Especially with barley…
 
Thanks - you have confirmed what I was thinking. It will be getting the kitchen sink thrown at it pre-em in any event. Barley is a weed in its own right imo... I did see some data from Syngenta comparing brome levels in conventional v hybrid crops suggesting a reduction in the hybrid, which is what prompted the question.

My experience this year was that the thick crops still had the brome, but that there were fewer tillers compared to where it was thin (all conventional).

What are you planning pre em?
 

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