Oilseed Rape

Ah the challenge of growing oilseed rape…. conditions need to be just right at drilling.

Because we use the Cross slot to direct drill our rape we can pick and choose exactly when to drill – when conditions are right. Recently this has tended to be late August, and by placing a 20:20:0 liquid fertiliser blend with the seed at drilling the crop soon rockets away. We also apply berseem clover and vetch at drilling which seems to help distract flea beetle in the crops early stages and pigeon damage later on, as well as helping the soil to structure for the winter.

As a result of ultra low disturbance drilling often the only herbicides used are Shogun (proquizafop) for volunteer cereals and Astro-kerb for blackgrass and removal of the berseem clover before Christmas.

Fungicides are used as required to control phoma, light leaf spot and scleretinia. Spring Nitrogen and sulphur are variably applied using satellite imagery in 3 splits, with the final split being delays until mid-flowering to ensure maximum pod fill. Variable rate application of Nitrogen and Sulphur is particularly useful in achieving a uniform crop in pigeon affected areas by the end of spring. Plant tissue tests are used to ensure the crop has no nutrient limitations.

Dessication is usually with roundup and a pod sealant, and the extendable header on the Case axial flo makes direct harvesting of the crop easy and efficient, with very few losses.