Despite a double whammy of tough autumn establishment conditions and high septoria pressure, Lincolnshire farmer Alex Jasinski was delighted with his first crop of winter wheat Bamford. It produced an average yield of 11.66t/ha with overall bushel weights of 79 kg/hl.
Alex, who grows 400ha of arable crops on a mix of soils ranging from heavy blue clay to limestone brash soils, drilled 22.5ha of Bamford on October 2nd last year alongside Dawsum and Skyscraper, successfully overcoming atrocious wet autumn weather.
Alex says: “It was certainly a tough start to the season. I just about managed to get our pre-emergence spray on two days after we drilled the crop, before the never-ending rain came again. Although we farm predominantly on free-draining limestone brash soil, the moisture levels were so excessive that I was seriously concerned over the amount of rain the new crops were taking.
“Nevertheless, the Bamford survived, getting away pretty well in fields where our overall blackgrass burden is not too bad. There were no hard frosts last winter and it progressed well through its early growth stages. Two splits of liquid N were applied – the first on March 1st, with a second split applied during the second week of April. In total we applied 225kg/ha.”
The fungicide strategy saw the same amount of chemical as his traditional four-spray program split over five applications, with a T1.5 spray on May 13th, bridging what would have been a long five-week gap between T1 and T2 sprays.
In what proved to be a very high disease pressure spring for both septoria and yellow rust in his area, the Bamford crop remained remarkably clean all the way through to harvest. In comparison, Skyscraper succumbed badly to septoria this time and as a result he will be dropping it this autumn. “It’s been a tremendous variety for us but now looks outmatched on disease resistance.
“Harvesting August 14th – 16th, average yields for the Bamford crop were 11.66t/ha, miles ahead of our five-year farm average of 9.75t/ha for winter wheats. Add to this an excellent specific weight of 79kg/hl, combined with early grain samples showing an impressively large grain, and you have a high-yielding variety with the potential for a small biscuit premium.
“It’s certainly been our most impressive winter wheat and we’ll be increasing our drilled area to 50ha this autumn,” he concludes.
