Combicrop

hi lads , im an organic farmer I've grown combi for 5 yrs, mostly pea oat barley but also wheat and pea mix. average 2.3 t to the acre but 2.5 some years. only input seed , dung or slurry and lime if needs. what I have noticed is in high disease pressure my monoculture oats will suffer and have a yield loss. the combi will get low levels of disease but no yield penalty. every time. it nearly always lodges a bit but combines fine. I sow at 250kgs/acre
usually 30% peas. being organic I have a different relationship with weeds... u get used to them!! I generally plant mid April on with good soil temps after a stale seed bed. It gets rolled and propcorned for feed. v satisfying crop to grow
 
hi lads , im an organic farmer I've grown combi for 5 yrs, mostly pea oat barley but also wheat and pea mix. average 2.3 t to the acre but 2.5 some years. only input seed , dung or slurry and lime if needs. what I have noticed is in high disease pressure my monoculture oats will suffer and have a yield loss. the combi will get low levels of disease but no yield penalty. every time. it nearly always lodges a bit but combines fine. I sow at 250kgs/acre
usually 30% peas. being organic I have a different relationship with weeds... u get used to them!! I generally plant mid April on with good soil temps after a stale seed bed. It gets rolled and propcorned for feed. v satisfying crop to grow
Very interesting, (and profitable given the price of organic cereals!) Is it part of a rotation with clover or grass or is it cropped continuously?
 
the protein content can vary, I analysed a wheat and pea mix which came out at 16.8%, but very slow to grow it again. the peas keep the wheat green for a long time so it was a sketchy harvest. the oat barley pea us usually in or around 12 to 14%. the peas are the big variable. any soil issues re compaction fertility etc will affect. also last year late rains gave a secondary flowering in the peas so some where falling out of the pods at harvest and some just barely ripe. the field looked like utter shite but as always came up with 2.4 t of good quality feed. I grow crops only so its part of a flexible rotation with oats , spelt ,lupins wheat . cover crops and imported dung. I was told I'd fall of a cliff with nutrition but highest yields last year in 5 yrs and no synthetic fert since 2014. the fella in western seeds said he has a trial plot going for 18 yrs of combi every year and still doing OK. sorry not trying to push organics here just very impressed with combi mixes.
 
the protein content can vary, I analysed a wheat and pea mix which came out at 16.8%, but very slow to grow it again. the peas keep the wheat green for a long time so it was a sketchy harvest. the oat barley pea us usually in or around 12 to 14%. the peas are the big variable. any soil issues re compaction fertility etc will affect. also last year late rains gave a secondary flowering in the peas so some where falling out of the pods at harvest and some just barely ripe. the field looked like utter shite but as always came up with 2.4 t of good quality feed. I grow crops only so its part of a flexible rotation with oats , spelt ,lupins wheat . cover crops and imported dung. I was told I'd fall of a cliff with nutrition but highest yields last year in 5 yrs and no synthetic fert since 2014. the fella in western seeds said he has a trial plot going for 18 yrs of combi every year and still doing OK. sorry not trying to push organics here just very impressed with combi mixes.
Always good to hear from posters doing things differently and telling how things have worked well for them.
Tell us more and please push the organics all you like.
 
The crows have rooted up a lot of the peas and are left on top of the ground will they germinate with the rain the field has been sprayed with stomp Aqua before the crop emerged
 

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to give balance to the positives of combicrop, I'm just reseeding 20 ac that was drilled in mid April. very slow and uneven germination and 3rd world war with the crow bast@#$s.. must have been cold temps weeds came in a huge flush and crop was so slow the crows had 3 weeks to get the taste for my peas. bangers, slabs of no.5s and 3 manikins from a clothes shop couldn't stop them. had to bite the bullet and reseed with oats. probably an organic problem more than a combi problem . any else suffering with the cold spring.
 
to give balance to the positives of combicrop, I'm just reseeding 20 ac that was drilled in mid April. very slow and uneven germination and 3rd world war with the crow bast@#$s.. must have been cold temps weeds came in a huge flush and crop was so slow the crows had 3 weeks to get the taste for my peas. bangers, slabs of no.5s and 3 manikins from a clothes shop couldn't stop them. had to bite the bullet and reseed with oats. probably an organic problem more than a combi problem . any else suffering with the cold spring.
Combicrop likes a warm April to get up and away quickly.
 
Growing away slowly same as everything else, peas seem happy, I don't think the birds found them.
 

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to give balance to the positives of combicrop, I'm just reseeding 20 ac that was drilled in mid April. very slow and uneven germination and 3rd world war with the crow bast@#$s.. must have been cold temps weeds came in a huge flush and crop was so slow the crows had 3 weeks to get the taste for my peas. bangers, slabs of no.5s and 3 manikins from a clothes shop couldn't stop them. had to bite the bullet and reseed with oats. probably an organic problem more than a combi problem . any else suffering with the cold spring.
Cold spring. Good frosts here for the last week have turned everything rainbow coloured. Crows got a good feed off some spring barley here. I did a bogman trick and tipped a bit of seed sweepings in a hape on edge of field to act as a crow magnet, then took great satisfaction in blowing a hape of them away when they discovered it . Can't beat returning a bit of organic matter.
 
Yes I'd say location is helping it we have had the frosts but not as severe as the rest of the country, also after beet which I think always helps early vigour. Sown March 24th
Hi

Looking great, what was you variety of spring barley, and how many kgs per hectare

Below is my combi crop from Western seeds, direct seeded with a Duncan into permant pasture that was burned down last September, but turned too wet to get a crop in .
Drilled 17th of April
IMG_20210518_203043.jpg
 
Hi

Looking great, what was you variety of spring barley, and how many kgs per hectare

Below is my combi crop from Western seeds, direct seeded with a Duncan into permant pasture that was burned down last September, but turned too wet to get a crop in .
Drilled 17th of April
View attachment 92047
It's gangway barley and album peas, per acre it's 60 barley and 30 peas son per ha 150 and 75. I found it hard enough to source peas at the time. I know nothing about the variety and can't find out much about it online so we'll see how it goes.
 
I sowed a few acres of barley and peas and I didnt realise that it needed a pre emergence spray for weeds. Mcpb is a bit of a problem to find. Its heading for the silage pit.
 
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