If I think back to April 2021, and read through Last year’s April FAQ’s I’m reminded that April last year was cold and dry and LeatherJackets were in full attack mode. Well here we are, one year later and I’m mostly talking to people about how cold and dry and cold it is and how… Read More April 2022 FAQ’s
This is the time of the year to be thinking when should I start my Primo Maxx programme? We’ve been talking more and more in recent years about growth degree days and this is a trend set to continue. Primo Maxx has been used for a long time now and I’ve seen a lot of different timings,… Read More When to start Primo Maxx II, 2022
2021 was the year my inbox was overloaded with images of people sheeting greens. 2022 is the year people send me pictures and videos of leatherjackets on marathon journeys! I spoke a lot last Autumn about the ability for these things to travel some distance, I suspected they could do 10 meters a night if… Read More The 2022 LeatherJacket Craze
As we head into the last week of April the Cranefly hatch reports are beginning to come in. It feels early still (See blog here that I wrote but forgot to post!! from Early April) but we’re seemingly behind 2019 and 2020. 2022 was a cold slow Spring and never really produced a peak hatch.… Read More Heading into May – Cranefly hatch
Based on historic PestTracker data on average we begin to see craneflies in the second week of April. Whilst I still can’t believe how it’s happened, we are very quickly approaching the second week of April. As always though the averages mask and hide a number of nuances If we look back through the years… Read More Cranefly hatch? Feels early?
A quick one… When looking at the GDD calculator on the Syngenta turf website. Sometimes people look at the high temperature and the low temperature and ask the obvious question. 12.1 + 6.7 / 2 = 9.4 not 8.8. Well yes and no If you’re working Growth Degree Days out for yourself that’s exactly how… Read More The calculator is wrong!
If you’ve been studying the Greencast GDD calculator you’ll see this is the time of year when there is huge differences between 0c and 6c base temperatures. Of course the immediate reaction is that something is wrong. But it’s important to note:- by using different base temperatures we are measuring very different things and those… Read More Growing Degree Days – 0c or 6c?
GDD Calculator With some pleasant weather behind us attention turns to the Growth Degree Day Calculator and as always there are questions! Should I start with Primo yet (Yes, if your growing, start low and use GDD to gauge next application) What base temperature to use The calculator is wrong (blog below) Wetting agents penetrant… Read More March Turf FAQ
This one popped up on a facebook thread the other day and it got me thinking about a trial we did in 2015 / 2016 at the STRI. The thread went something like this: Retentive type wetting agents hold too much moisture leading to more thatch accumulation and actually you should use penetrant type wetting… Read More Penetrant wetting agents in summer??
As some of you will have already seen from previous posts; I’m Sean Loakes and I’ve joined the Syngenta UK & Ireland team as Technical Manager. Luckily for me Glenn’s not completely disappearing but is supporting a wider area moving forward. He’ll still be available to share his knowledge and expertise which is a great… Read More Introduction to Sean Loakes
