Early Season Cereal Crop Maintenance

As winter cereals emerge quickly in these very mild and moist weather conditions, what issues should we be aware of?

 Aphid numbers in most parts of the country are running at high levels, once the crop has reached the two-leaf stage an insecticide application is essential during this current very mild weather period. Although resistance has been detected in some populations, effected control with pyrethroid chemistry (eg Gocha, Stealth, and Hallmark) are still very effective. Once the first application has been applied use the T- Sum applicator app to plan when and if a second application may be required. Even in resistant varieties such as Wolverine be vigilant with the monitoring of aphids as there have been reports of early breakdown to the resistant gene. Barley Yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) affects both Wheat, Barley and Oats is spread by the Bird Cherry aphid and Grain aphid and these we need to control with the insecticide.

If you have drilled cereals in late September and applied your first pre-emergence herbicide, the warm soils with speed up the breakdown of the actives in the soil. Normally you would expect 3-4 weeks control from a flufenacet based mixture. A residual top may well need to be applied to maintain your residual control into the winter. A residual top up is far more cost effective than having to apply a contact with a residual early in the spring when yield has already been compromised.

Where Wild Oats have evaded control from the pre emergence residual herbicide, be careful where a contact herbicide is added to the tank mix as most cereal crops are very lush and are very susceptible to scorch – to be prepared to see some transient yellowing.