
• Adapt management plan into winter
• Patience will be key – don’t rush in
• Consider nutrition strategy carefully
A flexible approach to managing later-drilled winter wheat crops is needed after delayed drilling caused by the wet start to autumn, says an agronomist.
Winter wheat drilling has varied widely around the country – with some growers seeing a repeat of last autumn’s washout delays, while other regions made good progress, says Mike Thornton, head of crop production for ProCam.
“There’s a considerable area of crops to be drilled after this year’s increased maize area and after root crops. Later drilling situations demand a considered approach. Respond don’t react. This was something highlighted last season.”
To help growers, Mr Thornton suggests three areas for consideration:
Use available weather windows to drill winter wheat, but do not rush to get crops planted if seedbed conditions are not yet suitable. Later-drilled cereals need well-prepared seedbeds with a good tilth and good drainage. Often, crops that went wrong last season were ones that were mauled in.
If you can’t prepare a good seedbed, be prepared to wait until you can. Depending on the variety and situation, winter wheat can still be drilled into January and potentially into February in some in cases, so there’s still time.
And we saw last season that later-drilled wheat can yield well, with less pressure from grassweeds, barley yellow dwarf virus and Septoria.
Clearly, it’s important to choose suitable varieties with later drilling, for example faster-developing types, and seed rates need increasing to account for heightened plant losses and reduced tillering. But these aren’t insurmountable.
That said, if getting on the land becomes too difficult, consider waiting and drilling a good spring crop rather than a poor winter one. We can’t predict what spring 2025 planting conditions will be like. But again, 2024 showed how well some spring crops can perform.
Although less popular nowadays for environmental reasons, ploughing to open up the soil will be a key consideration this season, at least in some fields.
Ploughing can improve drainage and reduce compaction, and crops that were planted after ploughing last season often fared better.
There’s a lot of soil damage left over from last season that needs rectifying, and there’ll be a lot of soil damage where maize crops have been harvested late in wet fields. Assess fields individually to judge if the benefits of ploughing outweigh the costs.
Other areas requiring attention to detail with later crops include nutrition, slug risks, and being prepared to adjust weed control according to weather windows.
Later-drilled crops generally have poorer root systems and fewer tillers. So a key aim is to stimulate lazy roots to become better at accessing nutrient reserves in the soil.
Use soil testing to tell you the levels of key nutrients available. Then, manage each field on its merits.
Ensuring spring nitrogen is applied early is an important foundation. But nowadays there are more sophisticated options for boosting growth than simply adding more nitrogen.
These include foliar-applied biostimulants, or soil-acting products if plants are small; phosphite treatments for rooting; and foliar-applied endophyte bacteria that fix and provide nitrogen inside the plant.
It’s important to seek advice on what is appropriate for your fields.
Later-drilled cereals are also more susceptible to slug damage. With a lot of weedy maize crops this season – due to missed herbicide applications – slug risks will be increased.
Later drilling also shortens the weather window for herbicides before fields become too wet to travel.
So it might be appropriate to make one robust pre-emergence herbicide application rather than gambling on applying a pre-emergence spray followed by a top-up. That’s probably something to take advice on too.
New managing director for RAGT UK
Plant breeder RAGT UK has promoted business leader Helen Wilson (pictured right) as the company’s managing director – bringing a range of experience to the role.
Ms Wilson joined RAGT UK in 2013 as a product development specialist, managing the breeder’s grass, maize and soil health plants portfolios. She was then appointed head of forage crops in 2016, covering the UK and Nordic and Baltic regions.
For the past three years Ms Wilson has worked for RAGT Group’s as a business leader for Asia and Oceania, integrating New Zealand and Australian subsidiaries into the group and exploring new opportunities in south-east Asia.
RAGT Northern Europe commercial director Simon Howell said: “Under Helen’s guidance, RAGT UK will continue to develop its highly successful multi-species portfolio. We are confident her appointment will secure a strong future for the business.
Ms Wilson said: “I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to lead RAGT UK. The skills and experiences I have gained from my international role within the wider group will be invaluable in my new role.”
Thousands of farms could face inheritance tax raid
News Feb 11, 2025
Big Farmland Bird Count
News Feb 5, 2025
Farm prospects ‘steady’ for 2025
News Feb 5, 2025
A breed apart: Farm shop success for Sam Steggles
News Jan 23, 2025
Experts explain Budget impact to conference
News Jan 23, 2025
Chancellor under fire after autumn Budget bombshell
News Jan 23, 2025