Words by Nicola Pace, Ruralco Senior Agronomist
Seasonal conditions through the past month have remained cool and settled, with consistent frosts and frequent fog slowing overall biological activity. Grass growth has effectively come to a standstill across most areas as soil temperatures continue to decline through May.
Early drilled cereal crops are now reaching GS21, where first insecticide applications are beginning to go on, although overall pest pressure has remained relatively low to date. Grass grub populations, however, are still sitting high in the soil profile and will continue to require monitoring moving into winter.
Pre-emergence herbicide performance remains a key watchpoint, particularly given the dry conditions experienced throughout May. Limited rainfall since application may impact activation in some situations, and paddocks will continue to be assessed over the coming weeks to determine overall weed control efficacy.
As with any agronomy, for further in-depth discussions or plans, please contact your Ruralco Representative.
Paddock Preparation
Most paddock preparation now is setting up for spring with weeds such as Californian thistles and twitch being best targeted in autumn as they take reserves down to their roots. Spraying these weeds now will ensure a better kill rather than in spring when they are thinking about going to seed.
Wheat
Autumn wheats are going in the ground and with decreasing soil temperatures it’s timely to check your sowing rates as they will start to increase.
Early drilled wheats have reached GS 21 which is when the seed treatment dilutes within the plant and we don’t have any insect control. With beneficial numbers being low, a cheaper option for insecticide can work at this time of year. Identifying weed pressure can help determine whether control is required now or if it can be delayed until a later insecticide application, potentially saving an additional pass across the paddock. Keep an eye out for problem weeds at this time of year such as brome or grasses emerging and come up with a strategy to target these. With so many herbicide options available, the best plan of attack is to work out which is your hardest to kill weed and go from there first.
It is also an important time of year for counting wheat plants to work out how many tillers you require per plant dependant on what your target plant count was. This can help determine your nitrogen plans going forward and when your plants best require nitrogen.
Another key element for wheat is to identify whether your paddocks/farm have autumn wild oats or spring wild oats (often at harvest spring wild oats with be 1 tiller and spindly) which helps plan whether you need an autumn Rexade or a spring pinoxaden/fenoxaprop to get your wild oats.
We are well in the window for sowing autumn milling wheats; these have a higher nitrogen requirement than feed wheat and using the formula for sowing rate will help make accurate decisions on farm.
Barley
Harvest snippets show Baxter and Transformer barleys are the most consistent across all areas, with comments from farmers with both varieties that Baxter had a lot less late secondary growth coming into harvest than Transformer.
We have fewer options for pre-emergent control in barley, with our best value for money being a flufenacet mixed with diflufenican. This gives adequate control and residual of grass and broadleaf, which with later sowings is key in case the weather doesn’t allow for a timely spray. Autumn sown barley seed treatments of Systiva have given yield increases as well as keeping the lower leaves clean which with barley, all leaves contribute to overall yield.
Every leaf on a barley plant contributes towards its overall yield, so keeping plants clean of net blotch and scald and early control of these diseases are important.
Small Seed Crops
Early established ryegrass crops are receiving winter herbicides and wild oat sprays. There are a few key rules to follow, herbicides must be applied 10 days post heavy rolling, wild oat sprays need to be avoided when frosts are present or soil is soggy, there needs to be a minimum 2-week window between herbicides and wild oat sprays, and plants need to be minimum 3 tillers. We are basing the timings for these around our grazing plans, anything with an early closing should be applied now (if possible), so that once withholding periods are out, you can carry on grazing through until closing, and later ryegrasses often benefit from an early graze and then a spray.
White clover may benefit from an early flumetsulam if mayweed or smaller weeds are present, otherwise wait until 5 trifoliate for their winter herbicide.
We are also coming into key propyzamide timing, often, the best application timing is with our first winter rainfall while soil temperatures are dropping and the weeds are small. Waiting until later in the season, when weeds are larger and temperatures are rising, can often cause variable results.
Winter feed
If you require beet testing to support feed transitioning, please get in touch with our Ruralco Representative who can help arrange DM testing, or yield advice.
Pasture Management
As above- keep an eye out for slugs and grass grub, if grass grub is present in established pastures, then other than mechanical intervention such as heavy rolling or hoof n tooth, then liquid diazinon needs to be applied with 10ml of rain to be washed into the soil profile.
Maize
Reviewing on maize crops/harvest is underway, and if you would like to organise a planning meeting with a Ruralco Representative and a Maize representative, please get in touch.
Soil Testing
Our full agronomy package allows us to have access to Ballance Agri nutrient specialist for soil testing, crop requirement plans and helping to get the best bang for your buck with your soil applications. Ballance have 7 self-service nitrogen silos placed around mid-canterbury which is ideal when the wind drops on a Saturday but before a rain to pop in and grab your prepaid nitrogen. For more information, please see https://ballance.co.nz/selfservicesilo or contact your Ruralco Representative.
Seed Ordering
A reminder that Ruralco have access to all major company proprietary small seed and cereal seed at very competitive prices. We can put together seed mixes, deliver seed or an agronomy package to help reduce the cost of production on farm.
With all the above scenarios talk to your Ruralco Representative for the best options for you and your situation.
Instore Day Planning
In store day planning is well underway, with lists from chemical sheds being made, and spreadsheets of requirements for the season being developed. Careful organisation allows for a smoother Instore Days as you can arrive with a shopping list to take the stress out of your visit. If you would like to have a Ruralco Representative contact you to organise your chemical/seed requirements, please get in touch.