Drilling of winter oilseed rape to get underway next week

With ground conditions reasonably good, the drilling of winter oilseed rape crops is expected to get underway next week.

Aiding the cause is the fact that most growers now have a window of opportunity between the winter and spring cereal harvests.

While growers can drill oilseed rape up to mid-September, a day’s growth in August is worth a week’s growth the following month.

In addition, earlier drilled crops are often better coming into the winter months which can help to reduce pigeon grazing.

Earlier drilling can also reduce the impact of slugs and other pests, as the crop tends to grow that bit faster and gets through the critical growth phases.

Growers should ensure that the new oilseed rape crop is rolled immediately after drilling and this will help establishment and reduce the activity of slugs.

Oilseed rape

When choosing varieties, growers should consider a number of traits.

These include: Pod shatter resistance; light leaf spot resistance; and turnip mosaic virus resistance. These characteristics play an important role in the final yield that can be achieved.

Growers often look at the overall yield rating of a variety first before looking at anything else.

However, where oilseed rape is concerned, the likes of pod shatter resistance play a critically important role in determining the yield that is actually achieved in store.

Growers should aim to drill about 60-80 plants/m² and establish 30-40 plants/ m².

Once the crop emerges, it is a case of keeping an eye out for slug damage and then apply pellets, if required.

The best weed control is usually achieved by using pre-emergence herbicides. These products tend to have a broader spectrum than post emergence options.

Relative products include Butisan S/Rapsan 500 (1.5L/ha) or Katamaran Turbo (2L–2.5L/ha) within 48 hours after sowing.

Although there has been a trend over the last few years to wait until the weeds have emerged to apply a herbicide, the choice available is quite limited.

The exception here is grass weeds or volunteers where there are plenty of graminicides available.

Oilseed rape normally follows winter barley within a crop rotation. And there should be ample time to make this happen in 2024.

Winter oilseed rape is a very useful break crop for a number of reasons – weed control, disease breaks and the more even spread of workload.

But, at current prices, it also presents growers with the opportunity to leave a good margin.