Page 13 - The Parish News May 2019

Ballards Farm News
April is always a busy month as the arable crops start their spring growth which means they need nitrogen and sulphur fertiliser, growth regulator and fungicides at precise timings.
Yields of most crops benefit from an application of nitrogen (the exception being legumes). The aim is to produce a lot of green leaves which will ensure the crop establishes enough stems and size of ears to produce the optimum number of grains per square metre.
Sulphur is also a major nutrient that the plant requires for growth. In the past air pollution from both domestic and industrial burning of coal meant that enough sulphur was absorbed into the rain and washed into the soil.
Having got the plant growing really well it then becomes vulnerable to lodging (falling over, due to wind and rain, as the ears get heavier towards harvest). We can help to avoid this by reducing the height of the plant with an application of a growth regulator.
As with plants in the garden, for example black spot in roses, arable crops are vulnerable to fungal infection. At this time of year the main diseases are septoria tritici and yellow
r u s t w h i c h k i l l o ff t h e g r e e n l e a f. P l a n t b r e e d e r s c o n t i n u a l l y p r o d u c e p l a n t s w h i c h a r e more resistant to the diseases but the strains of disease change to overcome this.
D e s p i t e a l l t h e t e c h n o l o g y a v a i l a b l e n o o n e h a s fo u n d a b e t t e r w a y o f a p p l y i n g c r o p protection chemicals than spraying them onto the crop mixed into relatively large volumes of water (40 or more litres per acre). However the accuracy with which we can do this has improved with new technology. GPS guidance uses satellite signals (the same as SatNav) and make it possible for the sprayer to know exactly where it is in the field. With this information the control box is able to turn the spray jets on the sprayer boom on and off. After driving round the outside of the field the sprayer can then follow the tramlines backwards and forwards across the field with the system automatically switching the jets on and off at the ends to avoid overlapping or missing any of the crop.
With the weather warming up and the grass growing it is time to put the cattle out in the fields for the summer so we have been checking the fences and the water troughs to make sure everything is ready.
thenewseec@gmail.com EDINGTON, ERLESTOKE & COULSTON 11