East: Slugs still enemy number one
I’m reluctant to grumble too much when fellow Crop Watch contributors from elsewhere report on such dire circumstances. However, I think this strap line from last week’s Crop Watch just about sums up...
View ArticleNorth: Hovering dangerously close to disaster
Saturday 27th October saw the last cereals harvested – spring-sown oats in Lancashire – which actually made a respectable pile all things considered. So it must be better than a month ago, just; at...
View ArticleWest: Grab every opportuntity to drill
A little more drilling was achieved this week, thanks to only 8mm of rain and a “grab every opportunity” attitude from growers. Some are drilling the middle of fields and leaving headlands which are...
View ArticleNorth: No let up in the “Battle of 2012″
Any thoughts that we might get a final weather window to see 2012 out in style appear to be like many soils – washing into watercourses the length and breadth of the country. As I write the rain is...
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East: Facing the harsh reality
A month has passed with very few opportunities to get on the land to do any sort of field work except yet more slug control! Visiting farms I seem to be the bearer of bad news, with the relentless...
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South: Less haste when writing off crops
Don’t get too hasty to write off drilled crops yet. Many are far better when you walk across them, than they look from the gateway or headland. The photo below is a classic example. Yes it looks like...
View ArticleNorth: Wheat drilling now well underway
A distinct lack of soil moisture in the more eastern areas has made cultivations and crop establishment quite difficult on many clients’ farms. Some soils have been too hard to plough, but it has...
View ArticleWest: Drilling underway and harvest nearly complete in the South West
At the time of writing most of the oilseed rape crop is now in the ground. The earliest drilled crops now have a bigger canopy and more biomass than the same crop on the same farms had in March this...
View ArticleWest: BYDV a potential threat in south-west this autumn
Since last writing autumn plantings have moved on at a fair pace. With an earlier and drier harvest than recent years the drilling of cereals started earlier than in the last few autumns. This combined...
View ArticleWest: Weather finally closes in, in the south west region.
With some very heavy rain through the latter part of October and early-November, the ground has now become very wet in many areas throughout the region. Most crops, including maize for grain and other...
View ArticleEast: Pests and blackgrass keeping us busy
At the time of writing we have had one good frost, but the forecast suggests further wet and mild conditions. Hopefully this will not mean a repeat of last winter’s weather. Aphid pests and barley...
View ArticleSouth: Phoma clearly evident in OSR crops
After the particularly cold September, the milder-than-average October and November have been just what we needed. It’s been a bit of a struggle for spray days in the past couple of weeks. But the...
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