OILSEED RAPE – should I stay or should I grow?
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The dilemma and considerations that growers currently face.
It is once again a season of (at least) two halves. After such an early cereal harvest, growers have been tempted to drill winter oilseed rape early to avoid cabbage stem flea beetle damage.
Crops drilled early, which had moisture, have established well.
However, many growers held off drilling due to a lack of moisture. Therefore, some crops have only just been planted following the recent wet weather. 
The recent wet weather may have encouraged a second flush of OSR that was perhaps planted slightly deeper to germinate. The crop therefore will contain a range of growth stages.
Belkar® can be applied at 0.5L/ha from 15th September once 90% of the crop has 6 true leaves (GS16) or at 0.25L/ha if the crop is smaller than this (see our diagram below). Growers must remember that the application rate should be governed by the growth stage of 90% of the crop.
Belkar controls a wide spectrum of broad-leaved weeds, including mayweed, fumitory, cranesbill and shepherd’s purse. It has a wide range of tank mix options available including graminicides to control volunteer cereals, fungicides, insecticides and crop nutrition products including boron. See Belkar tank mix.
Pests
Reports and feedback on cabbage stem flea beetle numbers have so far been low and with recent moisture, high soil temperatures, crops should emerge quickly and establish well.
Moisture, however, tends to encourage slugs to appear. The recent long period of dry weather has reduced slug pressure, compared to previous seasons, but recent rains have resulted in some slug grazing. Growers are encouraged to monitor the situation with traps and apply slug pellets once the threshold of 1 slug per trap has been reached. For further information see How to monitor slug populations in field crops | AHDB.
Should I stay or should I grow?
Oilseed rape remains a viable break crop option with the price currently around £400/t.
With growers achieving good yields this season and new varieties available this season with higher oil content than average, United Oilseeds say OSR could be the top gross-margin crop on many arable farms.
If growers are considering that it is too late to drill winter oilseed rape, the world record for the highest yield OSR crop was set this season by Mr Tim Lamyman in Lincolnshire with a crop drilled in mid-September.
Grass weed control
OSR also allows control of difficult grass weeds within the rotation. Kerb® Flo 500 and Astrokerb® contain propyzamide which has no known resistance to grass weeds and remains a critical tool in the toolbox for grass weed control. Propyzamide stewardship is important and for the latest guidance see Stewardship | Propyzamide | Oilseed Rape Herbicides | Corteva Agriscience™
For more information on weed control programmes in oilseed rape, take a look at our Topic Sheet: OSR herbicides in a programme topic sheet.
Diagram that shows when you can apply Belkar:
