Linseed
Agronomy
| Soil Type/Rotation |
Linseed suits most soil types and is not related to any other break crop, which means that it can easily slot |
| into most rotations. | |
| Variety | Varieties have been screened for the most important |
| characteristics –
yield, earliness to harvest, standing ability and Omega 3 content. This
means that you have the best varieties for your farm whilst growing the
quality the market needs. New for 2009 are the outstanding varieties Aries and Altess. Aries now sets the standards for yield – 8% higher than Juliet but with a significantly earlier maturity. Altess combines exceptional yield (4% higher than Bilton) with one of the earliest maturity on the NIAB Descriptive List. |
|
| Seed Rate | Customer experience has shown that you need to sow |
| 600 - 700 seeds/m2 to achieve the optimum plant population of 400 plants/m2. In practice this equates to 44 - 60 kg/hectare (18 - 24 kg/acre), depending on the variety sown. | |
| Seed Treatment | All seed is treated with Prelude + Chinook to minimise flea beetle risk. |
| Sowing Date | Linseed has a flexible sowing window, which gives you |
| ample opportunity to not only sow the crop when the conditions are ideal, but to clear up any problem weeds prior to sowing. Most of our customers sow their crops from mid March through to mid April. | |
| Drilling Method | Linseed is flexible and can be established directly, minimally or conventionally to suit your system and soil |
| types. | |
| Fertiliser | A low P & K requirement means that many of our |
| customers take a
"holiday" if their soil indices are good, which helps to reduce the
growing costs. Typical maintenance levels are 30 - 40 kg/hectare of P &
K. Nitrogen produces good responses on Linseed and should not be a limiting factor, typically 90 - 125 kg/hectare (75 - 100 units/acre) depending on soil type. |
|
| Herbicide | To avoid yield loss, it is important that weed |
| competition is removed early, so spray broadleaved weeds when they are small.
Various suitable products are available. Linseed gives an excellent opportunity to control grass weeds for which various products are available. |
|
| Fungicide | Linseed is no different to any other crop you grow – it |
| responds to fungicide applications, even in dry years. An added benefit of some fungicides is the growth regulatory effect, which reduces lodging risk. |
|
| Desiccant | Always desiccate Linseed for an early and easy harvest |
| using either Diquat or Glyphosate, depending on individual circumstances | |
| Harvest | A well-managed Linseed crop should be ready for |
| combining directly after completing Wheat harvest – typically late August/early September. |