Crop Outlook: Winter crops, spring beans and potatoes
Shay Phelan discusses the current status and challenges of winter barley, wheat, spring beans and potatoes.
Winter crops
The first winter barley crops will be ready for harvesting within the next two weeks. In general green area has been maximised by good disease control and the cool bright weather conditions in recent weeks has favoured grain fill which should benefit grain quality. The main concern amongst growers and agronomists is that some crops have below average ear numbers and this may impact yield.
The main concern in winter wheat is the level of septoria in crops. This is particularly evident in the south where significant levels of septoria on the flag leaf is common. The amount of radiation intercepted by the crop after flowering has a strong influence on the thousand grain weight (TGW) at harvest. TGW has a major impact on the crop’s yield.
Missing patches in fields will have a significant negative impact on overall yield in wither wheat this year.
Untreated wheat plots show the pressure crop are under from septoria
Spring Beans
Overall spring bean crops are better than expected considering the late sowing this season. Met Éireann’s latest climate statement shows that it was a cooler month than usual, with an average temperature of 13.1oC. The fact that this was Ireland's coldest June since 2015 has been beneficial for beans. While some crops have suffered from drought, most crops have received enough moisture to produce a good canopy. Most crops are well into flowering at this stage. Disease level is low.
If a final fungicide has not been applied, consider using a different product from the first application.
Options include: Signum 0.5-0.75 kg/ha or Amistar 0.5 L/ha + Tebuconazole 0.75 L/ha or Elatus Era 0.66 L/ha (one application only).
Potatoes
Early planted crops such as Queens are in full flower at the moment while most maincrop varieties are at stable canopy although some late planted crops have only just met in the alleys. There are some reports of blight in crops so vigilance is needed.
There are a few isolated reports of blight coming in usually in difficult to spray areas e.g. around ESB poles, awkward corners etc. so keep an eye out for them. Also be aware where amateur growers are growing crops as there is only one amateur blight fungicide product available.
Watch out for the Met Eireann Blight Warnings as these system has been revised in recent years and provides more localised and accurate warnings. When applying fungicides make sure to use partner products and alternate products throughout the season in an effort to combat the new EU43 strain which is moving across Europe and seems to be more aggressive than normal strains.
EU43 infected (nearest) is more aggressive 36A2 in background