This week’s guest on the Tillage Edge is Dr Steven Kildea, Researcher in Teagasc, to discuss disease control strategies in winter wheat.  

Stephen first discussed the effect of later planted crops and low disease levels following the recent very dry weather.  Steven pointed out there is still plenty of disease within crops and it’s the weather from now that will dictate how that disease develops.  

He recommends growers walk crops regularly, assessing plant growth stages and disease levels so that the main fungicides are applied at the correct timing.  It is especially important to get the first main fungicide applied at the third leaf fully emerged stage.

Steven explained how yellow rust can be a huge threat early in the season and growers need to move quickly if the disease enters a susceptible variety.  

Septoria control will change somewhat this year with the introduction of a new triazole called Revystar and the withdrawal of Chlorothalonil on May 20th.  Steven recommends, if Revystar is going to be used, then target its use at the flag leaf timing (in mid May) and use Chlorothalonil where it is available (but before May 20th)

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

On the first episode of Teagasc's Tillage Edge podcast, Michael Hennessy was joined by Dr. Richie Hackett to discuss nitrogen strategies in winter cereals and also malting barley.  Richie has a wealth of research expertise and is the main researcher in this area in Ireland.  

Winter crops took a battering last autumn from later than normal planting combined with constant wet soil conditions all the way to March this year.  Yield potential may have suffered however Richie is upbeat about most crops.  With good agronomic management and a kind season there is still good potential in most crops.

Richie explained where plant stands were good and where the tillers/shoots were retained good yield potential can be fulfilled.  For that reason Richie doesn’t recommend deviating too far from the normal amount of nitrogen applied to crops.  

He recommends where a crop’s potential isn’t great to reduce nitrogen input by 20 kg N/ha for each one ton/hectare lower yield than normal.  However he also recommended not to reduce overall rates by more than 40kg N/ha. 

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

The Tillage Edge, Teagasc's new tillage podcast, presented by Michael Hennessy, is coming soon.

During the Coivd-19 crisis we'll be bringing you weekly episodes covering agronomy needs of crops throughout the season with input from Teagasc researchers and views from across the industry.

Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.