dead eye alan Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 While processing yesterdays bag I found 4 youngsters, 3 adults with what looks like seeds about the size of barley but 3 cornered if that makes sense, and most of the adults had large amounts of yellow fat. All had traces of rape and some also had clover and grass. One had a growth on its wing tip flesh that looked like a fat ball. Have any of you seen any of this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 The seeds may be Buckwheat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted December 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, JDog said: The seeds may be Buckwheat. Have you got a picture of buckwheat? sounds plausible as its now grown with the rape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 All my three hundred acres of rape has been over sown with buck wheat, to prevent the beetle damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windswept Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 Interesting: https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/osr/how-two-osr-growers-escaped-flea-beetle-threat Seed pic from here: https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/species/87/buckwheat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 39 minutes ago, pigeon controller said: All my three hundred acres of rape has been over sown with buck wheat, to prevent the beetle damage. thats interesting ....does it actually work ...and how ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 2 hours ago, ditchman said: thats interesting ....does it actually work ...and how ? Well the rape that I’m quoting has all come through very well. I’m no expert but I believe that you over-sow the seeded rape with the buckwheat and this covers the rape and any beetle damage is taken by the cover crop . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clangerman Posted December 12, 2021 Report Share Posted December 12, 2021 same as the pige don’t take to buck seed every year here buck it’s self does not always work lost large field to beetle last year and several half fields but this year pige are mad for the seed and the rape is nice looking crop always seems to get damage in years pige don’t hit the seed the two seem connected somehow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted December 13, 2021 Report Share Posted December 13, 2021 Was told by an Agronomist that the main job of companion crops such as buckwheat is to hide the young rape plants from the swarms of flea beetle that arrive around September, the buckwheat is usually broadcast just before combining or sown directly after combining end of July, once the buckwheat is established the rape is sown directly into the cover crop. Last year a farmer I know went over a freshly combined barley field with the power-harrow, there was a lot of corn left on the top after combining, when the barley was about two inches tall he direct drilled the field with rape, there was very little beetle damage and the field produced a good crop, he put it down to the young rape plants must be giving off a certain wavelength of light/colour that the beetles are looking for when flying overhead. Whatever it is that is helping to keep damage down to a minimum with cover crops seems to-be working as more rape in this area has been sown with a cover crop and is showing very little flea beetle damage, so more for me to go at, happy days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted December 13, 2021 Report Share Posted December 13, 2021 50 minutes ago, old'un said: Was told by an Agronomist that the main job of companion crops such as buckwheat is to hide the young rape plants from the swarms of flea beetle that arrive around September, the buckwheat is usually broadcast just before combining or sown directly after combining end of July, once the buckwheat is established the rape is sown directly into the cover crop. Last year a farmer I know went over a freshly combined barley field with the power-harrow, there was a lot of corn left on the top after combining, when the barley was about two inches tall he direct drilled the field with rape, there was very little beetle damage and the field produced a good crop, he put it down to the young rape plants must be giving off a certain wavelength of light/colour that the beetles are looking for when flying overhead. Whatever it is that is helping to keep damage down to a minimum with cover crops seems to-be working as more rape in this area has been sown with a cover crop and is showing very little flea beetle damage, so more for me to go at, happy days. That's interesting, everyday is a school day. Thanks for you post most informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted December 13, 2021 Report Share Posted December 13, 2021 57 minutes ago, old'un said: Was told by an Agronomist that the main job of companion crops such as buckwheat is to hide the young rape plants from the swarms of flea beetle that arrive around September, the buckwheat is usually broadcast just before combining or sown directly after combining end of July, once the buckwheat is established the rape is sown directly into the cover crop. Last year a farmer I know went over a freshly combined barley field with the power-harrow, there was a lot of corn left on the top after combining, when the barley was about two inches tall he direct drilled the field with rape, there was very little beetle damage and the field produced a good crop, he put it down to the young rape plants must be giving off a certain wavelength of light/colour that the beetles are looking for when flying overhead. Whatever it is that is helping to keep damage down to a minimum with cover crops seems to-be working as more rape in this area has been sown with a cover crop and is showing very little flea beetle damage, so more for me to go at, happy days. Such tactics appear to be working well in some parts of the country but I have yet to see them on these Wolds. More rape has been sown this time and most is looking good. The rape that is poor did not suffer from flea beetle damage but was either drilled too late or into an unsuitable seed bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted December 13, 2021 Report Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) 31 minutes ago, JDog said: Such tactics appear to be working well in some parts of the country but I have yet to see them on these Wolds. More rape has been sown this time and most is looking good. The rape that is poor did not suffer from flea beetle damage but was either drilled too late or into an unsuitable seed bed. The last few of years most of the rape in this area was lost to flea beetle, I had very little to go at, so I am happy that some of the farmers in this area are giving rape another go and sowing it with a companion crop which seems to do the job of protecting the rape, just hope more follow suite. Only draw back to these cover/companion crops is a higher number of slugs which means more time and money on slug pellets, having said that it seems most are happy with the results so far, plus I think the returns on a high value crop such as rape outweighs the extra time/money spent on protecting the crop. Edited December 13, 2021 by old'un Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxwell Posted December 16, 2021 Report Share Posted December 16, 2021 Interesting post, every days a school day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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