Red Wheat Agronomy

Agronomy

Geographical area

Anywhere in the UK.

Soil type

Few limitations. Red Wheat prefers moisture retentive land. It is not suited to drought prone sands. It does however like black soils.

Sowing date

March through April. The highest and most consistent yields have come from late March sowings. April sowings are common.

Row width

The same as conventional Spring Cereals.

Seed depth

Red Wheat needs a firm seed bed which means min-till or direct drilling are ideal.

Seed rate

Typically, 150 - 200 kg/ha depending on sowing date and TGW. Red wheats produce a small berry - the TGW can be as low as 30gm

Weed control

As for conventional wheat.

PGR

Red wheats require a full growth regulator program.

Pests

Disease

Red Wheats are generally very weak on Mildew and Yellow Rust, so an early intervention to start the protective programme is required for Autumn sown crops (T0). This will ensure that crops reach T1 timing (late March) in good order and allow crops to 'start clean'. Spring sown crops without a Tripod seed treatment will need to commence the fungicide program when the crop has 3 leaves. The aim is to keep disease, especially Mildew and Yellow Rust out of the crop from day one.
Red Wheat varieties have proven resistance to head blight.

All Spring wheats are susceptible to Ergot. However, Faller is a very early, "closed" flowering variety which does mean it is less susceptible than most Spring wheat. However, in some years, many samples can be contaminated with Ergot. The advent of mobile “Colour Sorting" machines has meant that Ergot removal is now quick (circa 10 -20mt/hour) and good value (£10 -12/mt). The added benefit is that losses are very low (1-4%) compared with gravity separation and very thorough.

Fertiliser

P, K & Mg

Apply as for other cereals and depending on soil indices – please ensure soil levels are adequate.

Nitrogen

25 kg/ha of Nitrogen per tonne/hectare (t/ha) of yield is required, so a 5-6 t/ha crop requires 125–150 kg/ha of total Nitrogen. Remember to account for Soil Nitrogen Supply (SNS) in these calculations. As a rough ball park figure, applied Nitrogen is likely to be between 100 and 145 kg/ha.

Apply Nitrogen in a split as; one third before the ear development phase (end March; GS 13; three leaf stage) and the remainder at GS 32 (second node).

Rate - Growth Stage

40 – 50 kg/ha - Before GS 1.3

80 – 90 kg/ha - GS 3.2

Sulphur

Much of the UK is now deficient from Sulphur. The worst deficiencies are on lighter soils, where the wet winter will have exacerbated the situation. If you are in a deficient situation apply Sulphur (as Sulphate SO3) as follows:

Rate of SO3 - Timing

Medium deficiency 25 kg/ha - Before GS13

Severe deficiency 50 kg/ha

Trace elements

If the pH of your fields growing Red wheat lie above or below pH 6-7, foliar feeding with appropriate nutrients could be beneficial.

Crop height

Slightly shorter than conventional Spring Milling Wheat.

Variety

New to the UK, Faller, was added to the UK National List in June 2018. It has an 8-10% yield advantage over the original Red Wheat variety AC Barrie and 5% over Infinity

Faller HRSW is named in memory of James (Jim) Faller (1953-2006) who served as a technician for the NDSU Hard Red Spring Wheat Breeding Program for 29 years. Jim took great pride in his role to serve the North Dakota wheat farmer and was instrumental in the development of numerous varieties that have greatly benefited the agricultural community.

Harvest date

Red wheats are very early harvesting varieties. They would normally be approximately 2 weeks earlier to harvest than a comparable conventional Spring wheat.

Harvesting

The usual Cereals set up is OK for Red wheats. The terminal floret can be hard to thrash, so the combine has to be set aggressively to achieve a clean sample (de-awning plates may need to engaged).

Crop specification

Red wheats are HARD milling Wheats, so moisture meters usually used for SOFT Wheat will often be inaccurate. For example, a Protimeter setup for soft Wheat reads 0.7% high. This can cause problems at the mill intake. Check with your moisture meter manufacturer to ensure you have the current calibration for testing hard Red Wheat to avoid problems.

Yield

Likely range 3.0 - 5.5 t/ha depending on the variety and soil type.

Straw

The same as conventional Spring Milling Wheat.

Drying and storage

Useful links

Crop Passport

AIC 1/19

AIC 2/19

Health and Safety Data Sheets

Please click on the links below to download the relevant H&S Data Sheets for our seed treatment products.

Beret Gold - Safety Data Sheet

Latitude - Safety Data Sheet

Take Off PGA - Safety Data Sheet

'Ignite' (a.k.a. Prodigy) Biostimulant Seed Treatment

Ilext "Start-uP" Nutrient Seed Treatment

Redigo Pro Seed Treatment

EAMUS

Detailed below are the products listed by the Health and Safety Executive as having an Extension of Authorisation for a Minor Use of a Plant Protection Product. (EAMU)

It is essential that anyone who needs to use a product in accordance with an Extension of Authorisation must read the text of the Extension of Authorisation before commencing any spraying operation. Links are provided below to the Authorisation document for each of the products.
All products below were Authorised at the time they were added to this list, while Premium Crops do regularly check the validity of the products and update the list accordingly, it remains the Grower's responsibility to make sure that the Authorisation remains valid at the time any product is used.

Confine (trinexapac-ethyl) - Zantra Limted

Moddus (trinexapac-ethyl) - Syngenta Crop Protection UK Ltd

Tempo (trinexapac-ethyl) - Syngenta Crop Protection UK Ltd

The above is a list of all products listed on the HSE website and as such does not represent Premium Crops' endorsement or recommendation for use.

Please note an EAMU does not ensure a product is safe to use.