United Kingdom
May 9, 2014

Source: Bayer CropScience

Septoria pressure in winter wheat crops in early May is higher than at the equivalent time in 2012, experts found when visiting trials for the third annual Crop Doctor tour.

The first Crop Doctor tour correctly identified the impending Septoria disease pressure in 2012, but this year’s visit found symptoms of the disease already on upper leaves at both Callow in Herefordshire and Hinton Waldrist, Oxfordshire in the first week of May.

Septoria in wheat

Fiona Burnett, crop protection team leader at the Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), said the disease had been encouraged by the combination of early drilling and a mild winter and wet spring. She was most surprised and concerned to find symptoms already on the upper leaves at both sites, but especially at Callow, where it could be readily found in untreated plots on final leaf three.

“Quite often it will be down at the base at this time of year, which requires a level of splash to get it onto the upper leaves. This year it is already on those upper leaves, which means you will have direct physical contact with leaf two which could already be infected,” she said.

“For it to be that high up the canopy this early in the season gives a measure of the pressure we are facing.”

Where T0 and T1 fungicides sprays had been applied they had kept Septoria down at the base of the crop, Bayer’s Adam Nears suggested.

“It’s now about keeping it down at the base, protecting the flag leaf and final leaf two.”

He said a 1.0 litre/ha of Aviator was the bare minimum, and where yield potential was high, a full rate of 1.25 litres/ha could be considered. “It will help us get longevity from the product, helping keep crops free from disease and building yield. The full rate is easily justifiable [where yield potential was high] in terms of return on investment.”

To find out more from the Crop Doctor tour this year, watch our videos, featuring Fiona Burnett, Adam Nears and independent agronomist David Lines.