Winter Oilseed Rape Tips

Bcl said:
Mine looked like that 2 weeks ago but pigeons have hammered it since, you should see it now .....! Lovely looking crops btw
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Just talking to a neighbour and he was saying he never saw so many pigeons on his rape, thousands of them, they moved in to the area around Christmas day, by the size of the flock they must have come in from the continent, it is a long time since I have seen anything like these numbers.
 
gone said:
Just talking to a neighbour and he was saying he never saw so many pigeons on his rape, thousands of them, they moved in to the area around Christmas day, by the size of the flock they must have come in from the continent, it is a long time since I have seen anything like these numbers.
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I was wondering if they are more numerous here due to harsher than normal weather elsewhere?
 
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CORK said:
Thanks, pigeons haven’t been an issue here over the past couple of years for some reason but they’re back this year.
Our WOSR is in scattered fields this year which doesn’t help control.
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Haven't had much pigeon issues here either this past few years but this year is big problem. We used to have a few buzzards which kept them away but buzzards are missing this few months whatever happened them....
Theres four different blocks of rape in a mile radius of here and they are just hopping to the next one as soon as one of us scares them on.
Have you ever seen a crop where you could actually say definitively that pigeons robbed yield?
 
Bcl said:
Haven't had much pigeon issues here either this past few years but this year is big problem. We used to have a few buzzards which kept them away but buzzards are missing this few months whatever happened them....
Theres four different blocks of rape in a mile radius of here and they are just hopping to the next one as soon as one of us scares them on.
Have you ever seen a crop where you could actually say definitively that pigeons robbed yield?
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Yes, if they go hard on a crop I think they are taking yield.
Also I find that heavily grazed crops regrow a bit more spindley and are more easily lodged.
 
Bcl said:
Thanks, not the answer I wanted to hear!
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I should probably elaborate;

This is only my own view of course.

Mild grazing doesn’t make much difference (trimming the edges of the leaves).

Eating the centre point of the plant (the growing point) is serious.

Grazing is often not uniform, this results in some parts of the field needing more nitrogen to drive them on after severe grazing whereas other areas end up getting too much N.
This has consequences in trying to manage the crop with N and PGR.
 
CORK said:
Thanks, pigeons haven’t been an issue here over the past couple of years for some reason but they’re back this year.
Our WOSR is in scattered fields this year which doesn’t help control.
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There is a flock of pigeons up here with us for the last 6-7 weeks. We've no WOSR but they're floating between cover crops and wild bird cover and the numbers are huge. Blacken the sky when they take off. Never see the likes before around here.

Hopefully they don't get a smell of your WOSR.
 
Hardysplicer said:
I take it that got proline in autumn?
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Yep, it received 0.6L of Proline on the 19th November. Normally, the trial site would have very high disease pressure (because of proximity of last years crop) and can be hard to control. This year and last seem to be a bit easier for some reason.
I don't normally do the incubation thing to see if there is LLS there or not as if it gets going it can be almost impossible to stop it.
Added to that, if the incubation does show you have disease then even getting dry leaves at that time of the year can be a challenge, therefore I just do it routinely. IPM is great in theory but not always practical.
 
Cork said:
Stem extension is underway in the WOSR here

View attachment 87471
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Looking good , mine is no where near that. Needs n now but will need 3 or 4 good days before I can travel it. Pigeons did a bit of grazing but put up 2 kites last week and it has helped. I’m not growing rape long but one thing I have learned is it’s not what it looks like now it’s about what weather it gets from mid April to the end of may that will determine the yield . Have had great crops this time of year that haven’t yielded and poor looking crops that were nearly ploughed in in January that left great yield ...
 
Dk expansion rape just starting to come into flower in better parts of fields that weren't grazed heavy. Hope this wintry weather at weekend doesn't come as cold as promised.
Got caryx, bortrac and pecari today.
Hope I can close gate now til burning off time but probably not
 

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Has anyone got big numbers of pollen beetle in their osr this year? Never had issue with them here before but a lot of them this year.
What's lads opinon on them, leave them alone and hope crop compensates with extra flowering or go in with an insecticide now. Numbers vary in fields from 50-60 per plant to 5-10 per plant.
Have bee hives in fields since last week so don't really want to spray but will if I have to
 
no name said:
Apparently no harm once the crop is flowering which crops around here are.
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Just started flowering here in parts of fields but other pigeon decimated areas are a bit away yet especially with the cold delaying them a bit maybe that you would be more worried about.
I'll just watch them closely for a few days
 
HEAR Oilseed, a few plants just starting to flower, it was very heavily grazed by pigeons and is knee height except under a tree, which is a foot taller.
 

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Barrowsider said:
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On a similar mission HEAR today. Moisture dropped to below 9% this evening. Can't see us making it to your yields, I'd guess drought robbed 0.2 t/ac and hedge mustard robbed another 0.1
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Finished the rape and it returned a 1.825 average @10.5 moisture. Delighted with the results, partly flooded and completely grazed with pigeons,, its ability to compensate is huge. The price is the cherry on top.
 
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