Winter Oats 2020

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Barra oats dropped from 17.5% to 13.9% moisture in the sunshine yesterday. 56-58 kph.

The June bank holiday was a scorcher here. While eating burgers and drinking bottles in the garden that weekend I recall thinking "That's the oats boll#?ed anyhow". Oats don't like heat.

We're not finished yet so haven't a final yield but they're not as bad as I expected. The mid June rainfall must have arrived just in time to avert an outright disaster.
 
Oats cut and some went away for seed on Saturday morning, finished it this evening . Some was mad ripe and more was only just there. I wasn’t waiting any longer to cut as there was a lot of grain on the ground and If left until Tuesday it would all be there. First bit did a little over 2 , top part of the field burnt badly and shelled very badly in the storm, bottom part flooded in the winter and came through patchy.second field bit did a little better but I still think it’ll only average 2.25, moisture going from 19 to 22. Kph was ok at 55 on one load. Very short and actually hard to get into the combine as the straw was also a little green.
 
Finally got to finish my oats this evening. It wasn't worth bothering with. It was hammered into the ground and what was doing 2.25 an acre last Saturday week today was less then half that. Thankfully it was only an acre of left to do and it shows the importance of cutting a crop as soon as it's anywhere near fit in a bad year. If I'd a lot of acres to cut the losses would have been huge. I sunk the combine twice as well today. Never bogged it before in the 7 years I've had it. The 2 slicks for tyres probably didn't help either. 20200824_194220.jpg
 
What date would ye be aiming to sow winter oats by and what rate ? I was thinking delfin because of its resistance to mildew but from the small amount of looking back I did I seen everyone Is growing Isabel or husky? WO seem to be more suited to rented ground due to issues with ph
 
Masseyrk662 said:
What date would ye be aiming to sow winter oats by and what rate ? I was thinking delfin because of its resistance to mildew but from the small amount of looking back I did I seen everyone Is growing Isabel or husky? WO seem to be more suited to rented ground due to issues with ph
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Mid October onwards, and I know some will disagree but 11st or thereabouts.
 
Masseyrk662 said:
What date would ye be aiming to sow winter oats by and what rate ? I was thinking delfin because of its resistance to mildew but from the small amount of looking back I did I seen everyone Is growing Isabel or husky? WO seem to be more suited to rented ground due to issues with ph
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I try to sow W.O. between Oct 10th and 20th here, it is very sensitive to sowing date and those dates are for Carlow, Galway I would think might need to be a day or 2 earlier, but I wouldn't sow before the 5th.
Is the land fresh, 1st or 2nd lea?
 
gone said:
I try to sow W.O. between Oct 10th and 20th here, it is very sensitive to sowing date and those dates are for Carlow, Galway I would think might need to be a day or 2 earlier, but I wouldn't sow before the 5th.
Is the land fresh, 1st or 2nd lea?
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1st lea ph 5.8 was told not to chance WB even though it’s getting lime
 
Masseyrk662 said:
1st lea ph 5.8 was told not to chance WB even though it’s getting lime
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Very hard to control N in first lea and very difficult to get enough K available for Oats when the sod starts to rot down and so difficult to keep Oats standing in 1st lea. As a first time Oats grower you would be jumping in at the very deepest end.
If you do try it, I would advise to grow Husky, just because it is the easiest to keep standing, do not sow it too thick, 10st at most, poison it with K 120 units in 3 splits some in the autumn, some in the first 2 splits in the spring, keep your total N low, roll after sowing if you can and pick every stone.
It may be your best option and I am not trying to talk you out of doing, just telling you the pitfalls.
 
gone said:
Very hard to control N in first lea and very difficult to get enough K available for Oats when the sod starts to rot down and so difficult to keep Oats standing in 1st lea. As a first time Oats grower you would be jumping in at the very deepest end.
If you do try it, I would advise to grow Husky, just because it is the easiest to keep standing, do not sow it too thick, 10st at most, poison it with K 120 units in 3 splits some in the autumn, some in the first 2 splits in the spring, keep your total N low, roll after sowing if you can and pick every stone.
It may be your best option and I am not trying to talk you out of doing, just telling you the pitfalls.
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I was told that wheat is also very sensitive to pH and oats are safer @Bog Man. No I appreciate it gone it’s better know these things before, the ground wouldn’t be that rich in N I’d imagen, would have 3 cuts of silage taken off it every year and not a whole pile put back on and never grazed and never slurried. I’d try wheat either if I thought pH wasn’t an issue
 
Masseyrk662 said:
1st lea ph 5.8 was told not to chance WB even though it’s getting lime
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Time has thought me that wb does best in first ley and then winter oats. Ww in a first ley always disappoints me and always gets out yielded by wb. Perhaps it's the land around here.
 
Masseyrk662 said:
I was told that wheat is also very sensitive to pH and oats are safer @Bog Man. No I appreciate it gone it’s better know these things before, the ground wouldn’t be that rich in N I’d imagen, would have 3 cuts of silage taken off it every year and not a whole pile put back on and never grazed and never slurried. I’d try wheat either if I thought pH wasn’t an issue
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Drill wheat it will be fine at a ph of 5.8 especially if you are going to lime the ploughing before drilling .Oats and lea ground dont really agree., wheat a far safer option it might look like shite all year and still yield well .
Its been years since i drilled wheat after lea and then their were dressings against wirewor!m and Durbasan for leatherjackets so take advice before you drill
 
diesel power said:
Time has thought me that wb does best in first ley and then winter oats. Ww in a first ley always disappoints me and always gets out yielded by wb. Perhaps it's the land around here.
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I would usually tend to agree that we can struggle after long term ley but one of our best wheat crops this year was Bennington sown after a 40+ year ley. We ploughed down a heap of cattle slurry before sowing which may have helped as fertility is usually the limiting factor in this slot.
 
What would yer opinion be on land pH 5.0 about to receive 2.5T lime to the acre after just after barley and was in ley before that ?
 
Masseyrk662 said:
What would yer opinion be on land pH 5.0 about to receive 2.5T lime to the acre after just after barley and was in ley before that ?
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If the ph is that low the P&K will probably be very low as well, so similar the other field, careful with the N, poison it with K, horse on the Combitop and shortener and grow Husky. Oats is probably the least affected by the low ph.
 
gone said:
If the ph is that low the P&K will probably be very low as well, so similar the other field, careful with the N, poison it with K, horse on the Combitop and shortener and grow Husky. Oats is probably the least affected by the low ph.
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Index 3 for P and index 2 for K. Oats is best option for that ground so
 
Why are you applying the lime now if it's going into oats?

Getting up the pH for the next crops will probably increase the P and K levels or at least the take up of the P and K
 
Masseyrk662 said:
Index 3 for P and index 2 for K. Oats is best option for that ground so
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I have some ground away from home and no matter how much lime it gets it's always a bit low on the ph. Oats is by far the best performing crop in it and if I thought I would get away with continuous oats thats exactly what I'd do.
 
I’m almost the opposite, I have two fields with high PH, just under 8 and any amount of crop take off doesn’t seem to reduce it. I’ll be sampling it this autumn and I’ll be surprised if it’s down. Was in long term grass and now SB for last few years. Good yielding fields too.
 
nashmach said:
Why are you applying the lime now if it's going into oats?

Getting up the pH for the next crops will probably increase the P and K levels or at least the take up of the P and K
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The goal is to get the land with a pH fit for barley and my thinking of it is with such a low pH it will probably require lime again next year to get it right, soil test recommendation is 15T to the hectare
 
Plan is to do WO in 15 acres with the real low pH after barley and 10 acres of WB, could have more land going my way with no soil tests so thinking maybe WW for that I mightn’t get it at all yet so not thinking about it. I missed my chance for fert this time round, can only get 12-8-20 and don’t want to go with N considering the risk with oats, I have unlimited access to FYM would 3 or 4 tonne to the acre be a good option pre ploughing for oats ? Or would ye leave it? I could go heavier with it either or lighter, I was just thinking of getting K in soil
 
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Masseyrk662 said:
Plan is to do WO in 15 acres with the real low pH after barley and 10 acres of WB, could have more land going my way with no soil tests so thinking maybe WW for that I mightn’t get it at all yet so not thinking about it. I missed my chance for fert this time round, can only get 12-8-20 and don’t want to go with N considering the risk with oats, I have unlimited access to FYM would 3 or 4 tonne to the acre be a good option pre ploughing for oats ? Or would ye leave it? I could go heavier with it either or lighter, I was just thinking of getting K in soil
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I'd be slow to as your oats could get too lush during the winter and then lead to problems later with mildew or if a severe winter comes, frost kill remembering that oat varieties are not true winter varieties.
 
Sorry to annoy ye again lads, but what would yer thoughts be on land with no soil tests? Only got word I have the land yesterday so going taking the samples today but the land would be very rich, I think it recieved sludge in the last few years, but again don’t know when it last got lime which is my biggest fear, I was thinking WW and just hope the pH is okay, what ye recon ?
 
Masseyrk662 said:
Sorry to annoy ye again lads, but what would yer thoughts be on land with no soil tests? Only got word I have the land yesterday so going taking the samples today but the land would be very rich, I think it recieved sludge in the last few years, but again don’t know when it last got lime which is my biggest fear, I was thinking WW and just hope the pH is okay, what ye recon ?
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Do not sow W.Oats in fertile ground.
W.Wheat is not as sensitive to ph as Barley, if P&K are good I would try W.Wheat.
IF you can get seed.
 
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