Window for sugar beet drilling opens

According to the company’s agricultural communications manager, Paul Bee, growers with the largest acreages to drill will be looking to begin drilling in the next few days.

“The drilling window is certainly open and those with a lot to get in the ground will look to next week as a starting point,” he says.

“Seed is on farm and we say that growers can go from March 1, but obviously they will need to be realistic in terms of whether their land has had time to dry off.”

Soil temperatures will have to rise a little too, he adds.

Mr Bee expects to see good seedbeds ahead of drilling following the cold weather over winter, while up to 90 per cent of seed ordered will have the X-beet seed dressing, to give the crop a boost during early establishment.

“Use of X-beet is a key factor for early drilling and uniformity in establishment, and it gives us increased confidence in asking growers to drill from March 1,” says Mr Bee.

Rhizomania

He adds up to 60 per cent of seed on farm for the coming season will be rhizomania-tolerant, a figure likely to rise to 100 per cent of varieties in the future.

He advises growers to look carefully at sugar beet plant populations this season emphasising the need to aim for 90,000 plants per hectare.

“The higher plant counts last season were in the region of 80-100,000 plants/ha, but we also saw lower ones, perhaps where growers had difficulties with cultivations. So we’re asking them to raise plant counts for this season to help with overall yield performance.”

With beet factories set to take in the last of the 2009/10 crop, British Sugar is expecting to “comfortably” beat existing crop yield records, says Mr Bee.

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