The month of July has been at times very busy and at others relatively relaxed for the time of year. With ear wash being applied early in the month, and Nu-fol being applied middle of the month to the milling wheat, with some desiccation of O.S.R. as well.

First after the ear wash came the Nu-Fol. Due to the high daytime temperatures it was necessary to apply this late evening and overnight, but with only just over 100 Hectares to cover it was all covered in two evenings. On this note I have come to using a very useful too. It is a kestrel environment monitor. The kestrel as well as having the standard wind speed, temperature and humidity settings, has a Delta T function. The Delta T setting is a ratio between temperature and humidity, giving a readout between 0 and 10. This reading tells you when the stomata on the plant have shut, stopping chemical take up. This means a reduced risk of applying chemicals when they aren’t going to work, and giving you a parameter to work within rather than guessing.

Shortly after the Nu-fol application the recommendations for Rodeo (glyphosate) and Latch arrived. To be applied to the first block of O.S.R. to be desiccated, with another field being partially sprayed to allow for varying ripeness.  I have a left a review on Rodeo on Farmers Review, please click here to read

And of course naturally because we have sprayed the rape off the weather has taken a turn for the worse as the harvest date comes up. I think it was jokingly said that this would happen; I guess sods law really does exist.

Within the desiccation process I have been introduced to the use of Activator 90 as a cleaning chemical. With recommendation from the agronomist and on the Latch label, we have used Activator as a part of the triple rinse process. It seems to have worked very well at removing any Latch deposits within the tank and spray lines. Which has saved time, meaning no blocked nozzles.

Looking forward to harvest starting now and seeing what the weather will have made of the yields and quality. Also looking forward to a very exciting time in my life and becoming a father for the first time. With this brings the prospect of two weeks off in August, which will be a first since I was old enough to drive a tractor and go corn carting for my dad on the family farm.