Frost aids pest control in Scottish crops

To find out how arable crops are growing, The Scottish Farmer caught up with SRUC arable professor Fiona Burnett who has been speaking to growers.

Fiona said: “At last the year that kept on taking seems to have given us a bit of a break and, after the persistent rain that blighted the start of the 2023/24 cropping year, the dry and warm conditions of this autumn have allowed most winter crops to get into good seed beds and establish well.

Fiona Burnett “Of course, there are local exceptions to this and in a year where prices have taken a dip, poor crops create even more concern.

“Warm, dry weather has had the added benefit of allowing livestock to be outside for longer, reducing pressures on straw and silage. Pest and disease levels are low despite the advanced stage of crops and the warm conditions, and now that we are starting to see morning frosts, that will hopefully help to nip out any aphids or early disease. It will also help to check very advanced crops.”

Here are the reports from around the country:

Caithness

After an excellent finish to harvest including all potatoes out of the ground, attention has turned to turning over ground for the 2025 spring crop. Tremendous conditions have seen a lot of ploughing done in the area. Winter crops are looking extremely well for the time of year. There are still a lot of cattle outside which will reduce pressure on straw stocks.

Inverness

With the exceptionally mild and dry weather recently there is still winter wheat being sown after potatoes, but it looks like there is a cold snap coming next week. Earlier sown winter wheat has come through really well and most have had a residual weed spray. Winter oilseed rape is receiving its light leaf spot spray and graminicide to control volunteers.

Even late-sown winter oilseed rape has grown well with the weather. Winter barley is quite far on but still free of disease. Farmers are busy ploughing while the weather is favourable. With the price of spring barley, growers are keen to look at alternative such as carrots and potatoes.

Aberdeenshire

The last few weeks have been such a joy compared to last year, and have been a real talking point, letting growers get tidied up with the last of the straw bales removed from fields, lime spread in preparation for spring, some early ploughing, and later sowing of wheat after tatties have been lifted.

Winter crops have therefore (for the most part) had a good start to the winter, with good establishment. The milder conditions have also raised concerns about winter rape, stem weevil and some insecticides have been applied in places.

Preventative light leaf spot sprays have also been applied in preparation of the cold weather that at time of writing is due to come soon. The drier weather has also enabled cattle to be kept outside longer where grass has been available, but no doubt will be coming in soon.

Winter crops have grown well recent weeks

Banff and Buchan

A mild October has seen winter crops keep growing and enter the winter in reasonable fettle, with the growth spell much needed particularly in the case of the late-sown winter barleys.

Harvest 2024 has been one that growers were glad to see the back of, and while yield and quality were better than expected, it was more of a struggle than normal, with lower prices weighing heavily on any good cheer.

The last of the autumn sprays have been applied with oilseed rapes receiving their light leaf spot spray, with barley volunteers also taken out where required.

With some decent weather, the ploughs have been out early this year, as farmers look to get a good start to the winter workload.

Cropping, contracts and costs are also being considered as grain prices and markets remain at low levels.

Fife

All winter sown cereals and oilseed fields are growing well due to warm soils and mild weather. Some aphid activity can be found in forward winter barleys but not at threshold for spraying.

Winter oilseed rape crops are well leafed and covering the ground well, weed control seems to have worked very well with little evidence of pests or disease. A trend to frosty mornings should help control any insect pests and slow up those overly forward crops.

Angus

An unusually mild first half of November has meant that crops continue to grow, albeit slowly, and many crops are well advanced and going into the winter in a strong position with a few of the earlier crops possibly a little too proud. But overall, a much better situation when compared to this time last year.

Frosts are beginning to come in at night which will sort out any lingering aphid problems and help with slowing down disease spread. The warmer weather has also meant that conditions for propyzamide on winter oilseed rape crops are only just coming suitable in the middle of November.

Perthshire

Reasonably dry and warm weather has meant that many are progressing with winter ploughing and any planned work on planted crops such as herbicide applications and compound fertiliser applications are up to date.

In general crops look well and are going into the winter in good condition. Many are carrying out soil sampling and some are applying lime in the autumn as conditions are good.

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Stirlingshire

Winter crops are growing well across the region. Winter oats, barley, wheat and oilseed rape are all looking very well regardless of when sown.

However, the biggest surprise has been the winter oilseed rape and wheat drilled after winter barley in August this year.

The rape is at 12 leaves stage (growth stage 1,12) and the winter wheat has six tillers when compared with later sown winter wheat which are less advanced and still at leafing (GS14).

This is the furthest stage we have seen crops locally for November 15 and interestingly these were minimum tillage established. Some agronomists have advised spraying for aphids in cereals such as winter oats. However, we are yet to see them in our walks. All crops are weed free apart from some volunteers from previous cropping and this has tended to be beans or oilseed rape as most volunteer cereals have been sprayed off. All crops have green and healthy foliage with no disease.

Borders

What a difference a year makes! The dry weather of the past few weeks has allowed the last of the wheat and winter beans to be sown and now there is a lot of winter ploughing progressing while ground conditions are good.

The mild end to October has helped backward crops of rape to develop more ground cover while the dry conditions are also allowing herbicide and fungicide to oilseed rape and herbicides applications to cereals.

In general, emerged cereal crops have corner to corner cover, with fewer wet patches or slug pressure. Wheat varies from chitting to tillering depending on sowing date. Cereals are generally free from disease with light leaf spot present at low levels in rape.

Dumfries and Galloway

October and November have been very kind to us. The dry, warmer temperatures for this time of year have allowed for a little bit more grass growth than usual.

This has allowed stock to benefit from an extra four weeks of grazing and takes a little pressure off silage stocks. Winter crops are all drilled and have established well and are generally all looking good. Weed counts are slightly higher than normal for this time of year due to the warmer weather.

Ayrshire

Ground conditions in Ayrshire are better now than they have been for a lot of the summer and the last couple of weeks’ weather has been very settled although mainly dull.

Until this week, temperatures have been mild, allowing winter crops to get away. However, temperatures have started to drop, and growth will take a hit.

Grass growth has slowed, and most herds are now housed, but following the poor weather in the summer, some people are certainly low on silage compared to other years.

Stranraer

Winter crops have been sown in excellent conditions and ironically sowing will be around two weeks earlier than last year. Acres of winter crop sown looks to be similar to previous years and with good conditions there may still be a few fields go in.

Supply of over-eared seed has been fairly critical to enabling farmers to get on with drilling. The mild weather raises concerns about aphid populations and will require careful monitoring.

Reflecting on the harvest of 2024, winter wheats have exceeded expectations while winter barleys will typically be 0.25-0.5t/acre short of where they should be.

Spring barleys have been the usual mixed bag of results but for those on lighter farms the consistent rainfall has given them an uplift in yield.

The lack of solar energy throughout spring and summer has taken its toll with maize crops in particular. Early varieties have delivered mature cobs but overall the crops are a bit short, and yields will be back on the five-year average. There are still maize crops to be harvested, and questions remain as to whether the same acreage will be sown again.

Forage crops have also been challenged but the last couple of months have brought those crops back to average yields.