ÄDELHOLM 2023: WEEK 22 INCL. MECHANICAL ROW WEEDING & HOT AIR BALLOONS
2023-05-31, sow +54 days, 424 degree-days_base3, 28.8 mm rainfall.
DEVELOPMENT
We’ve still not had much rain. There was a very handy 6 mm last Tuesday. Modal development stage is probably BBCH20, if that exists. Unfortunately an accurate canopy cover figure is not possible as the drone mission attempted on 24 May had to be aborted owing to the drone losing its way whenever it needed to turn around at the end of a pass. But, the field looks good.
WEEDS
Row weeding was conducted on 26 May. It was a perfect operation. Maybe 5 sugar beet plants in the entire field were unintentionally weeded out, but otherwise, I was very happy with the work done. It was really difficult to find weeds in the bulk of the field, while at the edge of the field where chemical control had been less effective, it was pretty easy. So, the combination is a good one. I couldn’t be there myself, but the contractor had good support from NBR. I was a little worried that he would be confused that we had a task for him on a day that wasn’t a public holiday or the weekend, but he showed true professionalism.
Images: 1. Looking good! (except for the hot-air balloon wrapped around the house). 2. NOT insect damage
It looks like there was a bit of something left in the tank of the sprayer before TIII. TIII was conducted on the morning of 18 May.
INSECTS
There is definitely more life in the field, but we’re a long way from any thresholds.
Images: 1. Black aphids, 2. Something 3. Beet fly (Pegomya betae) larva, 4. Beet fly eggs.
A few beneficials were also spotted.
Images: 1. Wasps, 2. Spiders web, 3. Soldier beetles.
NAME THE DISEASE
One of BBROs Mark Stevens’ favorite games: name this disease:
Chimera, apparently. Not a disease, but a creature from Greek mythology with a body made up of parts of a lion, a goat, and a dragon. Nothing to see here…
COVER CROPS
We’ll be having a cover crop in Ädelholm Field 3, between the wheat crop of 2023 and the sugar beet crop of 2024. The nematode test we had done suggests this field is pretty OK for nematodes.
The pin nematode, Paratylenchus (stiftnematod), numbers are above the threshold for damage. The note says that the numbers can grow quickly if the wrong cover crop is grown. Oilseed radish, Raphanus sativus ssp. oleifera (oljerättika) is the default cover crop of choice. Given the pin nematode shouldn’t be too excited by this crop (I believe), a structural variety of oil radish can be grown. Lantmännen have the variety Stinger. I like Stinger – she was a friend at uni. I’m also hoping to add a legume to the mix, because I like legumes. The oilseed radish will likely out-compete any legume, so it might need to go in as a strip.
Giving 2023 is shaping up as an early year, there is also concern around having too much biomass from the cover crop. At IIRB 2022, work from IfZ showed that the cover crops with good biomass growth generally helped the sugar beet crop establish (better soil structure), but also that there were problems with available N later in the sugar beet season and ultimately lower sugar yields. The low biomass cover crop of vetch lead to the best sugar beet yield (might also gave a bit more N?). So, with that in mind, combined with the desire to include legumes, and that barley is already available to the contractors, it might be a barley + legume (max 30% by seed weight) mix.
HOT-AIR BALLOONS
In one of the more surprising events of the year so far, a hot-air balloon managed to crash into a few of our neighbours at Ädelholm on Tuesday the 30th: SVT and TV4 have a few images clearly taken from in the grass at Ädelholm. We just happened to have a field visit there on Wednesday the 31st, 12 hours after the accident. The balloon was still wrapped around the houses (see the first photo above), but the emergency vehicles were gone.