As mentioned, the prolonged dry spell and col nights have held the crops back a lot recently. One upside is that there is a distinct lack of disease in the leaves, therefore meaning less is needed to spent to protect them. But, what will be the final yield impact of the dry weather? Who knows.
To keep them functioning efficiently it’s important that they have a good supply of trace elements such as zinc, manganese, boron etc, and because they’re not working very hard in these dry and cold times, and they can’t get these from the soil while their roots are so dry, I’ve decided to apply a foliar feed of these elements to ensure they’re not lacking.
I’ve also combined that in the same mix with a basic crop disease protectant just in case there are any levels of Septoria disease bubbling away in the plant that we aren’t aware of.
The timing of this protectant is important and must be done when the third leaf is fully uncurled.
The crop has grown on well, despite the cold and dry conditions. Here’s a photo using my boot as a scale so you can see the development in recent weeks.
The yellow ‘tipping’ of the leaves in the distance is due to the drought effect on a light gravelly bank where there is stress due to low moisture levels.
Finally, here’s a small section where the Nitrogen fertiliser didn’t get to, next to where it did. The crop growth difference is marked.
The last Nitrogen will go on in about 10 days, and then we wait for the main ‘flag leaf’ to unfurl fully before we protect that too. The flag leaf is responsible for 70% of the crop yield, so application timing is critical.
Never criticise a man until you’ve flown a mile in his loafers.