BP2003 Crop Update - 1st July

Following a month which was the sunniest since 1976 (unfortunately I am old enough to remember it well!) it was inevitable that our increasingly unpredictable weather would throw us another extreme.



In the 4 days commencing the morning of 30 June we had 80mm of rainfall with barely a let up in the first two days.



This caused me some concern regarding blight control as the 30th of June was day 8 after the last application. Bad enough that it looked like it would be some time until we could get back on, but the weather was producing some severe risk levels with back to back Smith periods.



Ground conditions improved on Friday and we were able to spray on Saturday morning. As this was day 13, I changed from an intended Curzate to full rate C50 plus a good protectant product. This was our fifth application since an early Fluazinam in late May.



I will be keeping an eye on the effectiveness of this change of approach and will be prepared to change products or interval in response to any blight in the crop or nearby.



Given the rainfall we�ve had and the disruption to spray programmes I believe a lot of crops will require the same approach.