Barley Crop Management
To maximise your winter and spring barley yields you must get the basics right. Growing barley is about creating your yield and then protecting your yield.
Understand the basics
Variety selection – Tailor your management approach according to the variety chosen. You must understand the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen variety.
Establishment techniques, drilling dates and seeding rates – The trick with growing barley is to get it up and away quickly. Well sown is half grown- with the seeding rate being crucial to maximising barley yields. Aim to establish around 300-320 plants m/2.
Crop nutrition and nitrogen timings – Barley does not tolerate poor nutrition unlike wheat and oats which can tolerate poor nutrition to a certain point. Build your barley crop on a solid foundation.
Barley responds well to lime, P and K. Aim to have all your nitrogen applied by GS 31-32 in winter barley and GS 25/30 on spring barley. Do not neglect sulphur and trace elements (Mn, Zn, Mg).
Crop Protection - The judicious use of fungicides as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) programme is extremely important in barley to control yield robbing diseases such as rhynchosporium, net blotch and Ramularia.
PGR choice and timing - Be very mindful of when you are doing your PGR applications. Late PGR applications can predispose crops to Ramularia, and early PGR applications can supress apical dominance, allowing crops to maximise tiller numbers.
Optimum T1 timing - GS31
Optimum T2 timing - GS45
For further specifics on disease control visit our Barley Disease Control Page.
Find further information in our barley agronomy guide below.
