I think over the past few days we have had every type of weather
possible, (hail, snow, sleet, rain, wind, frost, sun, and thunder)
and so consequently our soils are cold and nothing much is wanting
to grow. Usually by now we would have drilled all our late maturing
maize varieties and be finishing off the fabregas before waiting on
the Italian Ryegrass to be harvested. Instead the seed and
fertiliser bags remain sitting in the shed as do both drills.
Advise being offered to maize growers at present is to delay
drilling to avoid seed sitting in waterlogged soil and potentially
failing. Normally maize drilling can start once soil temperatures
reach 10C at a soil depth of 10cm when taken before 9am. But this
year, seed drilled into such soil is likely to sit without
germinating, making it vulnerable to rots, mould, disease and pest
attack so advice is to wait till temperatures reach 12C before
starting. Experts are also reminding growers to be mindful that
with all this wet weather nitrogen in the soil may have been
depleted, so maize crops may need an extra boost 2-3 weeks after
establishment.
In the meantime we continue to wait for warmer times ahead, but
the impact of this delay is that we will already be cutting back
our seed rates to compensate for the delayed start in an attempt to
prevent against a late harvest.
