FMC has urged growers who are planning to sow winter cereals early to focus on crop nutrition due to the wet season depleting soil reserves.
Chris Bond, crop nutrition product manager, notes that the challenging grower season has led to some considering earlier drilling than usual to avoid potential issues.
He warns that the wet weather last season will not only have led to low levels of nitrogen and sulphur but also magnesium, zinc and manganese.
“A combination of these key nutrients plays a vital role in ensuring optimum early establishment. This is particularly important if your crops are in the ground for 4-5 weeks longer than usual.
“Therefore, to maximise the benefits of early drilling, supplementing these nutrients that have been lost through leaching and run-off will give the crop the best start.”
He adds that sandy, light or calcareous soils could be particularly impacted by leeching. “Nurturing the crop below ground is just as important as growth above ground.
“A crop may appear to be thriving in its first few weeks, but if it hasn’t got an equally strong root and soil structure, then it will be left exposed to threat over the winter while its growth is dormant.”
For those considering foliar applications, he suggests Cereal Plus, which contains magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc. The magnesium will keep the photosynthetic parts of the crop working and help it export sugars and amino acids from the leaf.
“Manganese is also a vital component of proteins that receive energy harvested in the process of photosynthesis, while zinc supports the structure of the cell membrane,” says Chris.
“When a crop has optimum availability to all these key nutrients, it’s far better equipped to defend itself against weed burdens and disease pressure too.”
For more information go to www.fmc-agro.co.uk