Which Soft Wheat?

[Happy]

Time to finally move away from Leeds but unsure as to what.

Other than bushel weight Sundance would appear to tick a lot of boxes, particularly on septoria, fusarium & untreated yield but one grain merchant saying steer clear, as he had a lot of it go flat this year. His recommendation was KWS Jackal.

The other merchant pushing Skyscraper which on paper looks pretty similar but with taller straw.

Having decided one obviously had a ready source of Jackal seed & the other Skyscraper I thought i’d ask my serviced agronomist what looked most suitable in their trials.
His recommendation was Elation which although short & stiff I see is the lowest rated on the list for Septoria
All wheat goes through Opico dryer which does raise bushel weight by a couple of points.

Any advice from those who’ve grown these or others that may be suitable?
Lighter land will be after peas & potatoes. Heavy land is continuous wheat so could be that 2 different ones might be better.

 

[teslacoils]

Grew Elicit. Was good. Nice sample.

 

[Happy]

Grew Elicit. Was good. Nice sample.

Thanks. Think it is bred the same way as Elation but with better disease ratings.
Distillers up here are keen on Elation but not Elicit for some reason.

 

[teslacoils]

Gp3 so premiums. It's parents are cassius viscount so both solid and reliable. Midge resistant. No big disease weakness. Decent bushel. We found it gave a nice sample but then softs seem to do so.

 

[teslacoils]

Distillers up here are keen on Elation but not Elicit for some reason.

Scotland innit. They'd be wall to wall riband if they had the seed. Consort still viewed with suspicion as being a bit modern.

 

[Happy]

Scotland innit. They'd be wall to wall riband if they had the seed. Consort still viewed with suspicion as being a bit modern.

Yes, we’ve moved on from Riband now.
Istabraq is the in thing & still very popular.
Always found it a bit hit & miss myself but others swear by it.

 

[melted welly]

Grew a field of skyscraper this year, and despite our in-house pessimist’s foresight of doom, it didn’t go flat, yielded 4.1t/ac dried weight and gave just short of 5 hesstons to the acre. Stayed very clean, upped the growth reg slightly.

 

[Happy]

Grew a field of skyscraper this year, and despite our in-house pessimist’s foresight of doom, it didn’t go flat, yielded 4.1t/ac dried weight and gave just short of 5 hesstons to the acre. Stayed very clean, upped the growth reg slightly.

Sounds good.
Will have have been well challenged in a summer like this one.

 

[Wheatonrotty]

Had some Elicit this year, did ok but was out yielded by the basset that it's supposed to be replacing.

 

[Wombat]

Grew both Sundance and skyscraper this Year. Sundance was on the low end of the bushels at 72/73 (was better last year at 75/76) but yielded well @4t/a for both second wheat fields odd patch went flat but nothing major. Skyscraper yielded as well with one field doing 4.6t/a, a few more flat bits as it's noticably taller and I would defo up the growth regs, you could certainly see where the varieties changed over in one field as the drill ran out.

 

[Flat 10]

Sundance is a clean variety that has yielded well here but it has been at the lower end of the bushel weights. Not gone flat or looked like it here.

 

[T Hectares]

Gp3 soft's here
Elicit, despite looking ropey all year yielded well, a fraction better than Basset with a bit better sample and a cheaper T1 spend
Barrel still out yielded them both by 0.3 t/ha, but with a worse sample

Elicit and Basset stood better than the Barrel

 

[Barry]

I understood Elicit was now approved by the distillers?? Of course that doesn't mean they are going to buy it... View attachment Hagberg data 9 sites 2019 AHDB.pdf

The other thing I would consider up there is the Hagberg reliability. The attached file is from the AHDB site yesterday and just has varieties ordered by Hagberg and one particular site that clearly was past the best time for harvesting.

I think Elation would be a decent choice providing Septoria isn't a key issue for you, as you have identified it really is pretty poor on that front.

 

[David.]

Had Elicit and Barrel side by side, Barrel slightly plumper sample and probably slightly better yield, both about 75kg/hl. (Costello 84.9).
Elicit grain was hanging out the ears, which might be a consideration, Barrel harder threshing.
Agronomist saying not sure about Elicit, looks scrappy in spring, which it did slightly, leaf tipping. He is not backing it long term...
Shall grow both again and some Firefly.

 

[4course]

agree with those suggesting skyscraper did exceptionally well here, no disease pressure, stood well and no shedding, the best straw of any so into little balesf and with ears the size of donkeys do dahs yielded well with high bushel so tripling the acerage this year and out goes barrel

 

[David.]

Is Skyscraper acceptable to millers being a Gp4 soft

 

[Flat 10]

Is Skyscraper acceptable to millers being a Gp4 soft

Not if you tell them.........
Seriously we have 1 mill locally that is fussy on variety. Others are not bothered if it meets spec.

 

[T C]

Had both skyscraper and elation for seed. Elation looked thicker but skyscraper yielded 0.5t/ha more. Majority will be skyscraper with some Motown and possibly Istabraq after potatoes.

 

[teslacoils]

Not if you tell them.........
Seriously we have 1 mill locally that is fussy on variety. Others are not bothered if it meets spec.

Selby won't take Bennington I hear.

 

[Jinx]

@Happy I would say both merchants are giving good suggestions for your area. KWS Jackal and LG Skycraper are both versatile varieties - light/heavy, 1st/2nd wheat, similar disease scores, etc. The main difference, in my opinion, is that Jackal is better suited to earlier sowing than Skyscraper, and Skyscraper is marginally better suited to later sowing than Jackal.

Your idea to try a couple of varieties is a good one. Split your risk, try both, and see what performs best for you.