Will's No Till Diary

[SilliamWhale]

I think that is probably better than mine with flag leaf out........

Yes maybe and i know your dissapointed with yours but to be honest this should be better.

 

[Flat 10]

Yes maybe and i know your dissapointed with yours but to be honest this should be better.

Yes but what I am saying is you have time for it to compensate. I agree its not brilliant. I was trying to be positive that's all

 

[SilliamWhale]

Yes but what I am saying is you have time for it to compensate. I agree its not brilliant. I was trying to be positive that's all

Ive put .5l ccc on. Wondering if some more in a week or so would help again?

 

[Simon Chiles]

Ive put .5l ccc on. Wondering if some more in a week or so would help again?

I would. In my experience crops grown under a dd regime in dry weather have a tendency to keep tillering once they get their roots into some moisture leading to uneven ripening. If you stand on it hard at the beginning you can save yourself a bit of grief later. Land that has been ploughed in the same weather scenario tends to have plants that go into natural ( or unnatural) senescence quicker and you don't tend to get the same problem or yield.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I would. In my experience crops grown under a dd regime in dry weather have a tendency to keep tillering once they get their roots into some moisture leading to uneven ripening. If you stand on it hard at the beginning you can save yourself a bit of grief later. Land that has been ploughed in the same weather scenario tends to have plants that go into natural ( or unnatural) senescence quicker and you don't tend to get the same problem or yield.

Interesting. The locally ploughed crops are definitely a bit leggier

 

[SilliamWhale]

Spraying beans for a bit of brome and wild oats. Not the best patch but like all my spring crops this year theyre too thin. They may improve as everything feelsabout 2 weeks behind normal

 

[SilliamWhale]

Not sure where to put it but this is Doug Edmeades latest Fertiliser newsletter - always good quality articles.

Good one on pelleted lime vs normal

http://agknowledge.co.nz/uploads/fert-review/Fert_Review_38.pdf

 

[rob1]

Not sure where to put it but this is Doug Edmeades latest Fertiliser newsletter - always good quality articles.

Good one on pelleted lime vs normal

http://agknowledge.co.nz/uploads/fert-review/Fert_Review_38.pdf

the bit on CO2 and climate change was interesting

 

[Breakthru]

the bit on CO2 and climate change was interesting

As CO2 levels are rising (just cyclical by the way) things are beginning to grow in the Nile Delta desert. It used to be the breadbasket of N. Africa. Maybe not all the bad news its made out to be.

 

[The_Swede]

Not sure where to put it but this is Doug Edmeades latest Fertiliser newsletter - always good quality articles.

Good one on pelleted lime vs normal

http://agknowledge.co.nz/uploads/fert-review/Fert_Review_38.pdf

@Caboverpete will love that!

Fully agree, looks to be good advice offered in a refreshingly unambiguous manner, shame we don't get more of this sort of thing in the UK. TFF excepted of course!

 

[SilliamWhale]

Spring wheat today. After Kale. Pretty clean. First spray today. Epoxi and ctl

 

[SilliamWhale]

Spring barley no so flash though. Plenty if bydv and quite thin although it has picked up a lot. Kicking myself i didnt use liberator pre em as there are patches of brome i should have done a better job on

 

[SilliamWhale]

The worst of my spring beans. Shite.

Drilled badly by.me, crows played hell as did the lack of rain. Nothing exciting here[emoji35]

 

[Breakthru]

The worst of my spring beans. Shite.
View attachment 534688 Drilled badly by.me, crows played hell as did the lack of rain. Nothing exciting here[emoji35]

As in another string somebody used garlic to deter rabbits, I used to find a few leatherjackets and use a low dose of Dursban, also deterred the crows.
Garlic may work but don't know his source, it wasn't mine.
Worth a try?? next time.

 

[SilliamWhale]

As in another string somebody used garlic to deter rabbits, I used to find a few leatherjackets and use a low dose of Dursban, also deterred the crows.
Garlic may work but don't know his source, it wasn't mine.
Worth a try?? next time.

Looking back I had the seed rate too thin as I'd cut it down a bit from the other field. I also had the downpressure on the drill too high which increased the peeling and the compaction so I didn't close the slot very well and then of course 4 weeks of dry plus this is the crows favourite field on top of the hill. This field has always been difficult to manage for some reason

 

[Feldspar]

Huge difference in our spring barley drilled on ordinary land and old meadow ground. Must be at least twice the biomass and perhaps even three times.

 

[Simon C]

The worst of my spring beans. Shite.
View attachment 534688 Drilled badly by.me, crows played hell as did the lack of rain. Nothing exciting here[emoji35]

I don't need to tell you Will about open slots, but this is a problem I get all the time. I often spend more time closing them afterwards than actually drilling. You say this is always a problem field, is it a bit heavier than the rest of your farm?

I had a similar cock up this Spring drilling triticale into standing stripped linseed stubble, had to use a disc drill because the tine one blocked after a few yards, and no way I could run harrows because of all the long stubble, and no amount of rolling had any effect on the slots.

So I was left with half a crop-

 

[SilliamWhale]

I don't need to tell you Will about open slots, but this is a problem I get all the time. I often spend more time closing them afterwards than actually drilling. You say this is always a problem field, is it a bit heavier than the rest of your farm?

I had a similar cock up this Spring drilling triticale into standing stripped linseed stubble, had to use a disc drill because the tine one blocked after a few yards, and no way I could run harrows because of all the long stubble, and no amount of rolling had any effect on the slots.

So I was left with half a crop-
View attachment 534838 View attachment 534840 View attachment 534842

Yes it is a bit heavier than the rest of the farm. Also looking back I had the downpressure set to high and therefore the gauge wheels on the drill compacted the sidewall quite badly. What I should have done is back off all the weight as much as I could and drill a bit deeper so it would have been a bit more away from the crows and would have been a bit easier to cover. Also I'm used to having rain at least once a week in the Spring and lack of rain really slowed emergence - I'd say 8 years out of 10 a little bit of open slottage isn't that big an issue for me because rain will activate things.

 

[Simon C]

Yes it is a bit heavier than the rest of the farm. Also looking back I had the downpressure set to high and therefore the gauge wheels on the drill compacted the sidewall quite badly. What I should have done is back off all the weight as much as I could and drill a bit deeper so it would have been a bit more away from the crows and would have been a bit easier to cover. Also I'm used to having rain at least once a week in the Spring and lack of rain really slowed emergence - I'd say 8 years out of 10 a little bit of open slottage isn't that big an issue for me because rain will activate things.

Yes, lack of rain would be the trouble. I am used to no rain for weeks and if I leave any sign of a slot, they just get wider and wider.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Better beans here. Sown earlier. Seed rate a bit higher. Less crows. Better ground and they got the rain needed after seeding