Planting is making good progress to date, with many growers now finished sowing barley and moving onto wheat. A recent drop in temperatures has been welcomed to slow down the movement of aphids, which were reported in high numbers on volunteer cereals by our agronomists.

A proactive approach must be taken when choosing seeding rates, with constant monitoring and adjusting required. The seed calculators shown below sets an optimum plant target to achieve full potential.

Some of the popular varieties at the moment for wheat include Spearhead, Torp and Graham. Contact your local Drummonds branch as soon as possible to order seed if you haven’t done so already. Where take-all is a risk in the rotation, use Latitude seed dressing.

WINTER WHEAT

SPEARHEAD
The highest yielding winter wheat variety on the 2022 recommended list. Early maturing with moderate resistance to lodging and straw breakdown. Very good resistance to mildew and yellow rust. Good grain quality. High yield potential. We are agents for Elsoms.

TORP
A high yielding, moderately late maturing variety. Good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown. Good resistance to septoria tritici. Also offers moderate resistance to sprouting. High grain quality with a low hectolitre weight.

COSTELLO
A robust variety with excellent grain quality. The highest scoring variety against sprouting. Strong disease package. A reliable variety particularly if a wet harvest occurs. A moderately early maturing variety with very good resistance to lodging and good resistance to straw breakdown. Very good resistance to mildew and yellow rust, good resistance to fusarium ear blight and susceptible to Septoria tritici.

GRAHAM
A very high yielding early maturing variety with good resistance to lodging and moderate susceptibility to straw breakdown. Very good resistance to mildew. Moderate resistance to Septoria tritici. Good resistance to yellow rust. Moderately susceptible to fusarium ear blight. Moderately resistant to sprouting. Good hectolitre weight.

WINTER BARLEY

Bordeaux, LG Casting and Cassia are among some of the varieties for winter barley.

Bordeaux

It is an extremely impressive variety that is commonly termed in the UK as ‘a two-row feed with six-row yields’. Excellent standing power and due to its early maturity,

it is early to harvest and makes for an attractive entry into oilseed rape. It is an incredibly low risk option for the 2021/2022 growing season which will return an excellent margin. Possesses Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus resistance also.

• KWS Glacier x Padura cross
• Strong agronomic package with barn-busting yields
• Excellent grain quality, specific weight of 69.9kg/hl
• Low screenings
• Height of 86cm and excellent for lodging resistance

LG Castings

• An early maturing two-row variety with high yield potential.
• Short straw and moderately susceptible to lodging and straw breakdown.
• Moderately susceptible to Rhynchosporium.
• Good resistance to brown rust and net blotch.
• Very good resistance to mildew.
• Good hectolitre weight.
• Very consistent.

KWS Cassia

• A moderately early maturing two-row variety.
• Short straw with good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown.
• Moderately susceptible to mildew and susceptible to Rhynchosporium.
• Good resistance to brown rust and net blotch.
• Very good grain quality with a very good hectolitre weight.

WINTER OATS

Husky Oats is still an extremely reliable choice.

The largest variety grown in Ireland at almost 60% of the acreage planted. White oats with good KPH and kernel content when sown both in winter and spring. Most popular variety for autumn sowing due to a superior winter hardiness score. Early maturing,
moderately resistant to mildew, but prone to crown rust.

Where cereals have been sowed early and are at the two-leaf stage, they are ready for a herbicide and aphid spray. Tackling weeds now before they suppress crop growth is important.

For information on product choice, speak to your local Drummonds advisor. Product choice is key when there are blackgrass and sterile brome issues.

To identify blackgrass as a young leaf there are some key characteristics:
• Hairless leaf
• No auricles
• Some purpling on leaf sheath neat the base
• Centre line in the leaf
• As plants get older, leaves can develop a blueish
tint with a twist. High tillering ability.

To identify sterile brome:
• Usually starts at field boundaries
• Hairy leaf
• Purple/red striping down the leaf sheath
• Serrated ligule
• No auricles present

Keep an eye out for slug populations, as their activity has increased lately. Set up bait points; place some muesli under a slate. Leave overnight and check slug numbers. If you find over 4 slugs per bait point, consider treatment. Slug pellets may be necessary in fields where there was a high volume of trash, such as those after oilseed rape or chopped straw. A fine, firm seedbed which is rolled after planting can reduce numbers significantly.

There is still time to get your soils sampled for pH and nutrient status. Do this as soon as possible before the weather becomes wet. Where cereals are sown into low P and K indices fields, consider seedbed fertilization.

OILSEED RAPE

Volunteer cereals in rape can check growth, by restricting the uptake of water and nutrients to the rape plant. This can be detrimental in terms of yield later in the season. During good growth periods, there is much competition between volunteers and rape. Numerous trials conducted on volunteer cereals in rape have shown the early removal of even modest volunteer cereal infestations gave a 20% yield increase over untreated, but if left for a further two to four weeks resulted in serious yield loss. Therefore, it is important to act now.

If you see shotholes in the leaves, there may be cabbage stem flea beetles present. A lambda-cyhalothrin type product should be used.

Consult your local Drummonds Agronomist for control options.