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Know How / Disease management

Get advice on managing disease in wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, and sugar beet. Find the best ways to combine cultural and chemical controls and how to deal with fungicide resistance. See tips, insights and farmer case studies focusing on major disease threats such as septoria, yellow rust, ramularia, phoma leaf spot and blight and how to combat them.

Advice and tips

CROP MANAGEMENT

Cereals 2022: Options to manage wheat disease in dry springs

Wheat growers need to consider alternative disease control methods to cope with drought-stressed crops in the spring - such as inter-cropping, variety blends and grazing in the early part of…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Benefits of septoria tests in optimising T2 fungicide rates

A big farming group is trialling rapid disease detection tests to optimise its fungicide rates to control septoria, which, if successful, could be rolled out across all of its 16,000ha…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Aphid pressure mounts in sugar beet crops - what you can do

Aphids are now flying and sugar beet growers are being urged to check their crops, as some have already reached the spray threshold for these vectors of virus yellows in…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Winter oats facing high disease could benefit from T0 spray

Winter oat growers could benefit from an earlier spring fungicide than usual as crops face a higher disease pressure, following a relatively mild winter. Mildew, crown rust and septoria have…

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Case studies

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Farm trial prompts winter barley fungicide rejig

After taking part in a winter barley fungicide trial last season, Cornish grower Mike Hambly has rejigged his spray programme to include Revystar at the T2 timing. Working alongside agrochemical…

WHEAT

Wheat variety Dawsum hits specific weight in poor light

David Hoyles is impressed with the new winter wheat feed variety Dawsum and has increased his area by 50% this season. That's because it produced a good specific weight on…

WHEAT

Wheat grower plans fewer sprays to delay disease resistance

Mike Wilton is planning fewer fungicide sprays on his winter wheat this season, although by using the latest chemistry he is aiming for good clean crops and to avoid disease…

PULSES

Beans and oats bicrop helps eliminate fertiliser in Cambs

Growing a simultaneous crop of beans and oats enabled one Cambridgeshire grower to completely eliminate fertiliser, fungicide and herbicide applications as well as increase land use efficiency. Arable farmer David…

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Community

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Twitter round-up: Spring drilling and wheat T0 race is on

The recent spell of warm, dry weather has allowed many growers to get into full the swing of spring drilling and take on the first fungicide application timing in winter…

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Insights

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News

LIVESTOCK

Lack of investment damaging Weybridge animal disease centre

A lack of investment in the UK’s main centre for managing animal disease threats means some facilities are no longer fit for purpose and this could leave the country vulnerable…

CEREALS

Cereals 2022: New light leaf spot detection test for OSR

A new rapid disease test, capable of detecting light leaf spot in oilseed rape crops before symptoms are visible, will be available to farmers this September, helping them to tailor…

VARIETY SELECTION

Cereals 2022: Manage OSR risk with top-yielding variety

The top-yielding OSR variety on the Recommended List can help growers manage their risk next season, as it is the first one with tolerance to a disease that in severe…

ARABLE

Reports of T2 spray damaging sprayer components

Several incidences of the degradation of sprayer components have been reported in the UK over the past week, where the tank mix applied has included the fungicide active Inatreq. Corteva…

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Video

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Phone app is cheaper way to monitor crops with a drone

A new smartphone app offers farmers a cheaper and easier way to monitor their crops, simply with a mobile phone and a cheap drone. Developed by Northumbria-based Drone Ag, the…

POTATOES

Video: Early potato harvest start is worst for 40 years

Brothers Peter and Philip Le Maistre are sixth-generation Jersey farmers and for them this potato season has been the worst since covering spuds with plastic started to be used on…

POTATOES

Video: Jersey early potato yields dip 20% after frosty February

Jersey’s early potato harvest is almost a month late this spring, with yields expected to be down one-fifth after the Beast from the East frosted off young plants barely out…

ARABLE

Video: Crop Doctor sees septoria rising to worrying levels

Disease levels are rising in the nation’s wheat crops with the wet weather likely to encourage septoria to spread and put growers on alert to make sure their fungicide programmes…

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Webinar

ARABLE

Webinar: Combating fungicide resistance

Farmers need to find ways to combat problems in crop protection that are caused by development of resistance to fungicides. Pathogen resistance to fungicides is widespread. This is especially true…

ARABLE

Expert advice on maximising OSR yields in a difficult season

After such a wet autumn and winter, the big question over oilseed rape this spring is: "What can farmers do to maximise yields in a very difficult season for oilseed…

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