Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a busy few weeks planting spring barley.
The wheat is developing well, albeit slowly. The cold air and soil temperatures have held it back compared to a normal Spring, but it responded well to the Nitrogen fertiliser it received back at the end of Feb.
You can see how well it used it by my tiny little missed bits!
The crop had another dose of nitrogen last week, and although many farmers split the nitrogen into three applications, I prefer to do four, to feed it little and often.
It keeps it well fed, and always with nitrogen near its roots. It starts to go yellowish when a dose runs out, and the aim is to split the applications evenly and time it in with the weather too.
You can see from an individual plant that there is new growth, and the idea is to protect that from disease using fungicides. The programme of application starts soon, and we use three in total, with the main aim being controlling Septoria, a fungal disease that forms on the leaf in warm wet weather and reduces the chance for the plant to photosynthesise.
The manky looking leaf is an old one that saw it though the winter, and is now being left behind for new growth.
Temperatures are forecast to be 20 degrees next week, so the crop will really start growing fast soon and we need to also ensure we get the timing of the straw shortener right too, to make sure it doesn’t get too tall and fall over later in the season.
Never criticise a man until you’ve flown a mile in his loafers.