Insecticide Free OSR Establishment

With between 50-90% resistance to CSFB nationally, it’s hardly worth an application when you factor in the potential damage to non-target beneficials, such as ground beetles, lacewings, parasitic wasps and ladybirds. But, in order to go insecticide free and give yourself the chance of a successful crop, there are certainly some do’s and don’ts when it comes to establishment!

The work starts long before the drill has entered the field. As we know, wider rotations reduce the pressure on pests and WOSR is no different, so a 1 in 5 slot will give you the best chance. Practical and anecdotal evidence has indicated longer stubbles, confuses, and reduces movement within the crop, so might well reduce the grazing pressure. That combined with companion cropping, increases the diversity either fooling or offering the adult beetle another food source, along with aiding plant establishment.

However;

Without doubt, our biggest asset when drilling is moisture. Moisture will enable seeds to establish evenly and quickly, shooting out of the blocks allowing nutrient uptake, whether that be foliar or seedbed nutrition from the very start of the plant’s life. Moisture is so key it overrides drilling date, although that is a big factor when knowing your type of enemy, be that the adult beetle itself, or its progeny, the larvae.

Based on what we know about the CSFB migration, early august drilled crops are likely to establish (+ 4 true leaves) before the migration, thus survive the feeding damage but plants will come under more pressure from the larvae during the late autumn and winter. With the mid to late September drilled crops likely to survive the larvae infestation IF they are able to establish and fight off the adult feeding damage during the autumn. The addition of Potash Plus will kick start rapid establishment, but also the extra sulphur in the blend will increase the natural level of glucosinolate  within the plant, increasing the defence levels against pest attack.

Like with a lot of agronomy and farming, it’s all a compromise, but knowing your enemy will help you mitigate the pitfalls and plan the best route to a successful establishment.