ÄDELHOLM 2023: WEEK 28, SLOW GOING

2023-07-15, sow +99 days, 1056 degree-days_base3, 107.3 mm rainfall.

RAIN

We’ve had a good bit now; ca 70mm in the last 20 days. It has included a few heavy downpours, so there are signs of water running across the field, but nothing that will have flown off the farm.

DEVELOPMENT

It is a little underwhelming. The canopy isn’t covering the rows yet. Midsommar is the usual rule of thumb for canopy closure and a good harvest. Neighbouring fields that were sown a few weeks later are completely closed. It is not clear if this is a result of the early establishment, the dry, weed control strategy, or the variety. Looking at a field of the same variety about 10 km away, it too doesn’t have completely closed rows. Whatever the cause, there are still some nice large roots in the field (some small ones too).

The variation in the field is still quite prominent. Some crop rows are clearly larger and greener than their neighbours. The wheel tracks going across the field are still prominent. This will definitely need to be considered in saampling for yeild variation as part of the 345 Intensified Soil Sampling project.

There are patches of lower / higher growth. There are also patches that look to have suffered from a stress, likely abiotoic. Some of these areas have yellow tips on the old leaves.

BOLTERS

10 bolters were found across the field. Not too bad for a field of 6.5ha. That said, more are expected to appear. The total vernalisation hours are up at XXX. There were two patchs with weed beets. Each cluster was of about 12 plants. One of these was right under one of the flags for the 345 soils sampling – point 88, for those playing at home.

WEEDS

There is a fair bit of new growth. It seems to be predominantly OSR and field pansy, but not exclusively. The field looks a lot cleaner than other fields in the region, with basically no fat-hen. The distribution of weeds changes over the field. There is a little wild chamomile / field daisy everywhere, but the black-bindweed is mainly to the east, while in the west it is mainly wireweed (polygonum aviculare).

INSECTS

Nothing was really observed in the observation area. Only 3 ladybugs. In the rest of the field, two areas with black aphid colonies on two or three plants in a row were observed. The mass of benefitials on these plants was the give-away. There were also a few white moths flying around. This guy too:

FOLIAR DISEASES

They’re expected any day now. Scouting wasn’t extensive, but no clear signs were seen.