What Stage is Your Oilseed at?
There were different drilling strategies this year for how to best establish oilseed rape – some July drilled and some only drilled within the last week or so. This means there’s a lot of variety in growth stages across the country.
Once oilseed is at the 4-6 leaf stage there is enough leaf area present to apply some key micronutrients. We want to ensure growth isn’t hindered at all going into the winter and micronutrients play their part in that. Oilseed can put a lot of biomass on over a short space of time if autumn conditions are right, which means there is potential for the crop to deplete micronutrient levels in the soil.
For a simple way to apply all the key micronutrients required on OSR this autumn, apply a multi-nutrient, crop-specific product such as YaraVita Brassitrel Pro. This mix contains Mg, Mn, Ca, B and Mo – vital micronutrients for this crop, particularly following autumn establishment.
Yara conducts independently run trials each year and over a 6 -year period the data has shown an average yield response of 0.3t/ha from an application of Brassitrel Pro, both in the autumn and followed up in the spring. This means it is well worth the applications as the return is several times the cost of the investment in the product.
An added benefit from making sure the crop has all the nutrients it requires in the autumn is that, anecdotally, a healthier plant is better able to cope with pest and disease pressure. Think of it as a healthy animal not being as susceptible to illnesses compared to one that doesn’t have a sufficient diet, it is similar for plants. So give your oilseed the best chance going into winter for a healthier crop come spring.
