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CROP CRACK 14-06-08
By WENDY FEARON
Clarendon Agricare -Stress On Winter Cereals
The welcome sight of showers last week throughout the province has went a little way to improve those crops which were suffering drought stress, after one of the warmest driest May’s on record. Winter barley crops are now beginning to colour and the ears are now fully emerged on all winter wheat. The flag leaf is now out on most spring barley crops with awns appearing in a few. Silage fields should also begin to improve with recent heat coupled with rainfall. Aphids in cereal crops remain a real concern with many fields heavily infested.
Winter Wheat
Winter wheat is beginning to show stress, yet foliar disease remains low especially where good T1 and T2 fungides were applied at the correct timings. Ripening is still about six weeks away and the T3 fungicide should be applied as soon as possible to prevent late developing ear diseases.Prosaro in a tank mix with Comet applies the actives prothioconazole,tebuconazole and pyraclostrobin which is a top shelf T3 treatment. Other alternatives are Mobius, Mantra or straight Folicur ensuring the timings for product use are correct.Sumi-alpha should be applied with the ear wash, as the grain begins to fill aphids feed at its base drawing off the sugars that should be filling the grain if left unchecked.
Spring Barley
All weed control should now be complete on spring cereals. Many crops are only now receiving their first fungicide due to dry weather and hot sunny days, but rhyncho is now appearing onto many untreated crops. In the space of a single season the value of a tonne of grain has almost doubled, yet in the same timescale the variable costs have increased very dramatically also. With seed at over £400/t, nitrogen now over £300/t and diesel approaching 60p/lt, so the yield required to break even has dramatically increased compared to only a couple of years ago.
However growers now have a greater opportunity than ever before to greatly improve their Gross Margins by increasing yield. Yield is the most important determinant of profitability. Even at £160/t, an extra £16/ac spent on fungicide (more than the cost of one full spray), only needs to add 0.1t/ac to pay for itself. Likewise, an extra £30/ac for an extra bag of Nitrogen only needs to add 0.3t/ac to cover its cost.
With proper management of fertiliser and spray selection, spring barley yields can quite easily be lifted from the typical 1.5-2.0t/ac to over 2.5t/ac.
The two most important diseases of spring barley in NI continue to be Rhynchosporium and Mildew. Ramularia (sometimes known as Leaf Spot) shows itself later in the season (usually after booting), symptoms very similar to manganese deficiency.The inclusion of chlorothalinil in the mix will help with ramularia control.,Mantra,Colstar and Opus team will control rhyncho and mildew and
a) MOBIUS 1lt pk 0.75lt/ha 3.3ac/pk £15.00/ac
-applies 2/3 rate prothioconazole and 2/3 rate trifloxystrobin
-very broad spectrum; curative & protective activity of stembase, leaf and ear diseases
-better control of Rhyncho than the best current standard
-add TALIUS at 150ml/ha if Mildew is present and active on the plant
b) MANTRA 1lt pk 0.83lt/ha 3.0ac/pk £13.30/ac
-applies over 4/5 rate epoxiconazole & kresoxim-methyl and 1/4 rate fenpropimorph
-a very strong 3-way mix of triazole/strob/morpholine giving excellent broad spectrum activity
-inclusion of fenpropimorph improves performance especially for Rhyncho & Mildew
-increase rate to 1.0lt/ha if Rhyncho is active on the plant and disease pressure remains high
-very cost effective for the 3-way mix
c) COLSTAR 1lt pk 0.83lt/ha 3.0ac/pk £9.70/ac
-applies 4/5 rate flusilazole (PUNCH) plus fenpropimorph (CORBEL) at just over 1/2 rate
-a strong triazole/morpholine mix in a convenient 1lt pack to suit all sprayers and acreages
-increase rate to 1.0lt/ha if Rhyncho is active and disease pressure remains high
d) OPUS TEAM 5lt pk 1.25lt/ha 10.0ac/pk £11.70/ac
-1.25lt/ha applies 4/5 rate epoxiconazole plus fenpropimorph at just over 1/2 rate
-cheaper than using the two straights, and avoids tank mixing
-fenpropimorph improves Rhyncho control as well as giving Mildew control
-increase rate to 1.5lt/ha if Rhyncho is active on the plant and disease pressure remains high
e) MIDAS 5lt pk 2.0lt/ha 6.25ac/pk £7.80/ac
-applies full rate flusilazole & 2/5 rate chlorthalonil
-addition of the chlorthalonil provides Ramularia control, and boosts Rhyncho activity
-very cost effective source of flusilazole & chlorthalonil
-add TALIUS @0.15lt/ha if Mildew is present and active on the plant
Boosting the Control of Mildew
TALIUS 1lt pk 0.15lt/ha 16.7ac/pk £4.20/ac
-tank-mix with the triazole if disease is present or the variety is very susceptible to mildew
-the most persistent mildewicide available
-when applied in tank-mix, the control of partner products is superior to the individual components
Options, 2 spray programme
The T1 should be applied during late tillering up to just before 1st node GS25-30, and can be timed to coincide with the main BLW herbicide application. T2 should be timed to follow up about 4 weeks later at flag leaf emerging, GS37-39, coinciding with a growth regulator if required.
Chlorothalonil gives good control of Ramularia when used preventatively. Both Teagasc and SAC work suggest it should be a key component in all T2 treatments for barley.
T1 Fungicide options
a) COLSTAR 1lt pk 0.625lt/ha 4.0ac/pk £7.30/ac
-applies over 3/5 rate flusilazole plus 2/5 rate fenpropimorph
b) MIDAS 5lt pk 1.5lt/ha 8.3ac/pk £5.90/ac
-applies 3/4 rate flusilazole & 1/3 rate chlorthalonil
T2 Fungicide options
a) {MOBIUS 1lt pk 0.625lt/ha 4.0ac/pk} tank-mix £12.50/ac
{JOULES 10lt pk 1.0lt/ha 25.0ac/pk} £2.30/ac
-applies just over 1/2 rate prothioconazole, 1/2 rate trifloxystrobin & 1/2 rate chlorothalonil
b) {MANTRA 1lt pk 0.75lt/ha 3.3ac/pk} tank-mix £12.10/ac
{JOULES 10lt pk 1.0lt/ha 25.0ac/pk} £2.30/ac
-applies 3/4 rate epoxiconazole, kresoxim-methyl, 1/4 rate fenpropimorph & 1/2 rate chlorothalonil
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