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Crop Watch, North – Farmers Weekly – David Stead

Septoria is active in early-sown wheats in Yorkshire ...

While there are generally lower levels of rust this spring due to the cool weather, although yellow rust is being seen towards the coast in more susceptible varieties such as Kerrin (4) and Gleam (5)

David Stead, area business manager for Yorkshire at agronomy group Hutchinsons, says that after recent rains there could easily be a pick-up in disease levels if the weather starts to turn warm.

Many crops in his area receive a plant growth regulator at T0 so a fungicide can easily be added. More resistant varieties like Extase (one-year septoria rating 7.3) will need little if anything at T0, but on rust-susceptible varieties, tebuconazole can be added for a quick knock down or a strobilurin mix for a more preventative approach. Folpet is likely to be added for early-sown crops.

With many Group 3 biscuit wheats a particularly close eye is keep on varieties such as Firefly and Barrel. They both score 6s for yellow rust and 5s for brown rust, while Firefly has a one-year septoria rating of 4.9 and Barrel 4.4. “This is a season for tailoring what you do to what you are seeing in the field,” he says.

For most varieties, and especially those with weaker disease resistance scores, he will focus on new chemistry in the form of SDHI-azole Revystar, with folpet added depending on whether it was used earlier and the variety’s septoria susceptibility.

For varieties with better disease resistance, Mr Stead has the option of using slightly older chemistry, based around SDHI bixafen with Ascra. Where there is a perceived rust problem he will use the strong rust SDHI-containing product Elatus.

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