Professional pest protection for crops

Essex-based farm manager rates Vari-Scary MkII bird scarer as one of the best buys for controlling grazing birds.

With so many di erent types of bird deterrents currently available to farmers, choosing the right option from a long list that includes pole-mounted kites, gas cannons, traditional replica hanging crows or even sophisticated, and often expensive, bio-acoustic sound dispersal systems can be a timeconsuming process, according to farm manager Nigel Clayson (pictured) at RS & WR Gosling, a 607ha arable farm, based at Takeley near Stansted Airport.

“All deterrents have their respective fan bases, but ultimately, as with most farm equipment purchases, it comes down to reliability, price and performance. Wind-powered bird scarers are great when it’s windy, but not so great when there’s no wind, so reliability and investing in a deterrent that can consistently do the job in all weather conditions has to be a major consideration,” con rms Mr Clayson. are limited to between 5am and 9pm to avoid anti-social night noise disturbance, and with good positioning, one Vari-Scary gas cannon can cover a decent eld size of 13–16ha. over the years, but the was the Vari-Scary MKII LAMMA event in 2019.

Out of all the options available, and based on previous experience, Mr Clayson favours the propane gas cannon as the best and most reliable solution for most farms, given they neither rely on wind or high visibility to provide reliable levels of protection against pigeons, crows and other pests.

“I’ve tried many di erent gas cannon bird scarers over the years, but the one that stands out was the Vari-Scary MKII that I purchased at the LAMMA event in 2019.

It’s lightweight, with an integral handle for easy transportability, has a tough weather-proof polyethylene plastic body with waterproof seals to protect the battery compartment, and takes about 10 minutes to set up using a simple control panel to programme when the gun res throughout the day. Settings integral handle for easy

“The key is positioning the bird scarer with the wind following in the same direction, allowing the gun re sound to carry as far as possible to achieve maximum range. The Vari-Scary has an electronic ignition system that creates a multiple spark in the steel combustion chamber of the cannon’s barrel reducing any possibility of a mis re. This gives it a signi cant advantage over older gas cannons that often rely on a single spark from a spark plug. The older models are also far more susceptible to damp, making them vulnerable to multiple mis res.

“With normal daily use, the VariScary’s battery should last just over a month between charges – however, you can upgrade to a solar panel charger option that will trickle charge the internal battery, potentially doubling the battery life between charges, given a reasonable amount of sunlight.

“Having successfully used the Vari-Scary MkII to reduce bird grazing damage on both oilseed rape and spring peas, it’s a proven and coste ective system for protecting crops,” concludes Mr Clayson. FG

Good establishment means substantially increased 2023 OSR crop

Despite a bone-dry August, later sowing than many planned and the highest levels of ea beetle pressure since 2019, British winter oilseed rape establishment this season has been remarkably good, according to the fourth year of Dekalb national grower polling.

This, and the marked increase in plantings con rmed by the late October survey, suggests the area of crop coming into next spring is set to be a good 10% up on 2022.

Reports from over 290 growers, responsible for more than 30,000ha of 2022 plantings well-spread across the main oilseed rape growing areas of the country, show the vast majority of this year’s crop going into the winter was in particularly good condition.

Almost 80% of plantings were, indeed, rated at 7.0 or more on the 0–10 scale (where 0 = complete failure and 10 = perfect establishment) with just 7% rated less than 5.0 (see Figure 1).

“Barring major winter or early spring issues, these ndings point to an overall crop survival to owering similar to the past two years at around 90% of plantings,” says Bayer seed campaign manager and poll co-ordinator, Lizzie Carr-Archer.

“This is a vast improvement on the 67% survival to spring we recorded in the last particularly challenging establishment season of 2019/20. And it’s certainly not what large numbers of growers were expecting as recently as September.”

With almost two thirds of respondents reporting very or fairly dry conditions at sowing and only just over a third considering them at least reasonable, this year’s poll shows moisture levels at sowing were actually worse than 2019.

Together with sowing delays prompted by the very dry conditions, this left many crops particularly open to the normal late August/early September cabbage stem ea beetle challenge.

While noticeably higher than the past two years, however, overall CSFB pressure proved to be well below the level of 2019, with only just over 20% of growers reporting substantial and intense challenges from the pest compared to more than 50% three seasons ago (see Figure 2).

This and the fact that over 80% of growers reported receiving enough rainfall between sowing and late-October almost certainly accounts for the very much better position of the current crop going into winter.

“As ever, our study shows

Source: Dekalb National OSR Studies 2019 to 2022, Bayer

Source: Dekalb National OSR Studies 2019 to 2022, Bayer considerable di erences between the regions in CSFB pressures and moisture conditions both at and after sowing,” Ms Carr-Archer notes. “Even those areas faring worst in terms of pest pressure and dryness, though, have generally better average establishment scores than 2019.

“Not surprisingly perhaps, the very much drier August led to a clear reversal of the trend to earlier drilling we’ve been recording over the past three seasons, with only around 40% of crops being sown before August 20th compared over 50% in 2021 (see Figure 3).

“Unlike recent years too, it also meant that earlier sown crops didn’t necessarily establish better than those going in at a more traditional late-August timing, despite what continued to be higher CSFB pressures at this time. This reinforces the fundamental importance of the balance between pest pressure and moisture conditions in determining OSR establishment.

“Our latest data show CSFB pressure continues to have a greater impact on establishment than soil moisture,” she points out. “Crucially too, they underline that the real clincher in moisture terms is the amount of rainfall received after sowing rather than conditions at drilling. Indeed, the di erence in average establishment score between the extremes here was

Insecticide spraying changes

Unsurprisingly, greater CSFB pressure meant a higher proportion of growers spraying insecticide at establishment this season – 54% compared to 45% in 2021.

Encouragingly, though, this did not lead to a decline in the proportion of those deliberately avoiding spraying to encourage predators. If anything, indeed, this increased slightly – from 33% last season to 36%.

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far and away greater than between the extremes of moisture at sowing (Figure 4).”

With drilling conditions so dry, it is not surprising that this year’s poll shows few, if any, overall di erences in establishment success between di erent variety types, establishment regimes or establishment management techniques.

Despite coming under greater CSFB pressure than pure lines (by virtue of being sown rather later on average) however, hybrids showed their value by establishing every bit as well.

There is a suggestion that subsoiler seeding was more successful than direct drilling, in particular. Once the fact that fewer direct drillers employed an insecticide at establishment is taken into consideration, though, any real di erence here is questionable.

While no management technique showed any marked establishment score di erence from the average either, those spreading organic manures reported the greatest success for the second year in a row.

When employed in the absence of any other main technique, spreading organic manures and seedbed fertilisation stood out as the only techniques giving noticeably higher establishment scores (see Figure 5).

“Direct drillers are clearly leading the way here,” Ms Carr-Archer observes. “Almost half (48%) are now avoiding insecticide spraying at establishment and only 44% actually used a spray this season. This may re ect a more ‘conservation-focused’ approach on the one hand and less need as a result of better conditions for crop establishment on the other.

“Those avoiding spraying did experience slightly less good establishment than the rest. So, insecticide use is clearly still having a positive e ect for many; especially where CSFB pressures are higher.

“Even so, two thirds of growers overall and more than three quarters of mainstream hybrid growers deliberately not spraying recorded establishment scores of 7 or more. What’s more, greater predation may mean they gain from lower levels of larval damage.”

“This season’s poll gives particular con dence to those not letting the very dry early autumn put them o sticking with or increasing their winter OSR growing for 2023,” she concludes.

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet, of course. Having said that, the critical importance of establishment quality to crop performance and the extent to which both good crop establishment and later sowing are known to reduce the impact of CSFB larvae leaves us quietly con dent of a substantial year-on-year increase in the crop going to harvest.

“After all, even in the particularly damaging CSFB season of 2019/20 growers only recorded an average crop loss of around 6% between early spring and harvest.” FG

Focus on nutrient use e iciency to save on fertiliser costs

Nutrient use e ciency (NUE) is the term on everyone’s lips this season, driven by continuing high fertiliser prices and the need to maximise crop productivity.

Agronomist David McLellan says growers should think about how to maximise NUE well before they start spring applications. “One thing you can do easily is measure and correct your soil pH,” he says. “Anything less than 6.5 and you’re potentially wasting valuable fertilisers by reducing the availability of NPKs to the crop. Bear in mind that a pH of 5.5 is 10 times more acidic than the optimal pH of 6.5 so it won’t just a ect nutrient availability, it will compromise biological activity too.

“Many growers use agricultural lime to manage soil pH, which is ne if you have very acidic elds and plenty of time to correct them, but to make rapid adjustments in time for spring or to maintain pH over the season, you need much ner material.”

According to David McLellan, the quickest and most e ective way of managing pH is to use regular applications of a granulated lime. “Omya Calciprill granules break down quickly in moisture and are rapidly incorporated into the soil. They are made from ultra ne particles of calcium carbonate which reacts quickly with the hydrogen ions in the soil, making a di erence to pH within a few weeks. Once you’ve achieved an optimum pH you can maintain it annually by applying smaller amounts to ensure optimum NUE and yields.” FG

Good establishment in spring sown crops

Many farmers will be planning to sow spring crops in 2023 as they offer a cost-effective option to autumn sown crops. Spring-sown crops only have a short growing season and are more vulnerable to dry, hot weather. Good establishment is, therefore, the key to getting good yield and quality from spring sown crops.

The first thing to aim for is to sow high germination seed with high vigour. This is best achieved by using a NAAC mobile seed processor who can remove small seeds, weed seeds and any inert material that might block the drill.

Large, dense seed tends to be both higher in germination and vigour resulting in crops which grow away rapidly in the spring, and gravity selection/gravity separation helps with this.

The next thing to consider is crop nutrition and how to deliver it to the crop. Seed treatments are available to give your crop enough nutrients to get going and sustain the crop until it can find what it needs using its root system. Your NAAC mobile seed processor will have options to apply various combinations of manganese, phosphite, amino acids and other bio-stimulants to ensure a good root system and vigorous growth.

To help get your spring sown crops off to the best possible start, visit www.naac.co.uk for more information. FG