Featured in this Seasonal Focus:

Cereal Focus: Managing Lodging Risk with Targeted PGR Programmes this Spring!

Cereal Fungicides Focus: T0. Disease Control Starting Point

Pest Focus: Protecting Cereal Crops from Damaging Insect Pests this Season!

Trials Focus: Velcourt trials highlight the efficacy of generic options at T1 as cost-effective partner products in wider cereal disease control programmes.

Cereal Fungicides Focus: T1 Planning in Cereals!

France Update: We are thrilled to welcome Hugues Hequet to the team as our new Sales Manager for France.

May Outlook: Spring growth is now away, but with recent dry weather crops will soon need more rainfall!

Maize Focus: Ensure timely, early post-emergence weed control in maize crops this season to boost yield.

Cereal Fungicide Focus: T2. Reacting to the challenges of every season.

Oilseed Rape Focus: Consider flowering fungicide sprays soon this month to protect your oilseed rape crops…

June Outlook: Welcome rainfall ends the spring drought!

Cereal Fungicide Focus: T3. Tailor the product choice to match your crop challenges.

Field Vegetable Product Focus: Introducing Clayton Artefact

Grassland Focus: Don’t miss a final weed control opportunity in grassland this summer…

Pest Focus: Keep a close watch for aphids in potato crops in early July!

Potato Disease Focus: Protecting tubers as Late blight pressures are growing!

Fully assess lodging risk in your crops this spring… Watch out for wet or waterlogged soils, which would put a high proportion of crops at risk of stem or root lodging and ensure crops are assessed for lodging risk routinely every year, so at-risk crops can receive careful management early enough to protect yield and quality.

Read more in our Cereal PGR Product Guide.

T0 is the right time for some crops to set up season-long control of key diseases in wheat and barley.

Growers this season are again facing different crop situations this spring, with variability in crops due to later autumn drilling and wet field conditions coming out of the winter, so not all crops are in peak condition going into the spring especially on heavier land. Where yield potential is limited, growers should consider using cost-effective fungicide product options for early spray timings in many situations this spring.

Added to this, Clayton trials in 2024 looking at fungicide responses around T1 showed that higher input spend on newer chemistry at these earlier timings did not result in a significant yield advantage benefit.

So overall margin over input costs can very easily become negative unless growers consider more cost-effective generic chemistry at this timing. T0 is therefore the ideal timing to start looking for cost savings whilst still adequately dealing with early disease management, notably rust, and crop variability.

Read more in the T0 Bulletin below or view the update here!

Protecting cereal crops from damaging insect pests is essential for achieving consistent yields and preserving grain quality.

Read more in our Cereal Insecticides Product Guide.

Fully replicated fungicide trials conducted for Clayton by Velcourt in 2024 gave encouraging results and support why premium quality generic chemistry has an important role to play in what are undoubtedly challenging times and operating environments for UK farm businesses.

“Within Velcourt we are looking at how we integrate older, generic chemistry into programmes to achieve the best value.” says Nick Anderson, Technical Director, Velcourt

As we approach spring, growers and advisors face important decisions and balancing fungicide spending wisely will be vital. With many winter crops later drilled this season, assessing crops in early spring will be critical to understanding disease pressure, yield potential and crop condition and then balance that with fungicide strategy and spend.

“We recommend that growers consider generic options, particularly for early cereal fungicide timings, and on crops where yield potential is not completely optimal. Maximising margin over input cost is essential and generic products can help at the early T0 and T1 timings, either as standalone options or used as tank mix partners with newer chemistry to keep cost under control.” says Will Ridgwell, Commercial Manager, Clayton Plant Protection.

Click the image below to read the full  article in the March edition of Agronomist & Arable Farmer!

Getting it right! A key timing to deliver effective baseline disease control in the season ahead..

Though not as problematic as last year, growers still face hard decisions in terms of disease control with a level of crop variability apparent due to wet weather and difficult field conditions coming out of the winter, so not all crops are in prime condition going into the main spring period.

Growers are advised to carefully assess each field and in situations where yield potential is limited or where potential is good but pressures on cost input spend are high (exacerbated by pressures on farm budgets, margins and lower cereal prices), they should consider using cost-effective, generic fungicide products for the T1 timing.

Read more in the T1 Bulletin below or view the update here!

Exciting News from Clayton Plant Protection for the French market!

As we approach the start of May, despite a few colder overnight temperatures keeping growth at check through April, the recent spell of warmer weather has now enabled many crops to start a rapid period of growth and development. Some soils and fields are relatively dry now, so some rainfall will probably be welcomed by many growers soon.

Herbicide solutions for your forage crops
Clayton Plant Protection offers a range of weed control products to help you get the most out of forage maize and maximise weed control. We offer growers choice and cost-effective options to manage weeds in your forage maize crops. Maximising feed potential can contribute to better productivity and more yield stability season after season, for longer-term sustainability for UK livestock farms.

In this update:

What are the benefits of early weed control?

Reassuring high performance products – achieve the best results for their maize crops this season

Flexible, post-emergence timing options.

Problem weeds to target – including Black Nightshade, Mayweed spp., Chickweed and Fat-hen.

Read more in our latest guide for Maize Herbicides…

Following a relatively dry spring period, levels of Septoria and Rust currently remain low or moderate overall in many crops. However, recent rainfall events in some areas have raised risk levels with disease development and pressure is likely to respond very quickly at this time of year.

“With oilseed rape crops looking very good at the moment around the UK and prices around the £450/tonne mark, protecting crops during flowering against sclerotinia infections may be important to protect and maximise profit margins.” says Will Ridgwell, Clayton Plant Protection.

Crops this year are generally looking better than they have done for a number of seasons, and although sclerotinia pressure has been relatively low in oilseed rape so far, rainfall events can quickly change this, so protection at this timing can be critical. With all crops in flower now, growers should consider mid-flower fungicide applications to specifically target and protect against sclerotinia.  Planning your fungicide choice will be important and ensuring good coverage with flowering sprays is also key.

There are essentially three main disease challenges in cereals at the T3 timing. Understanding which of these are relevant to your crop will be key to cost effective disease management and extending green leaf retention, vital for final yields.

Selective insecticide derived from naturally occurring soil fungi (naturalyte).

SC formulation containing 480g Spinosad

In grassland areas around the UK, post-silage cutting offers an ideal opportunity to control re-growth of troublesome broad-leaved weeds such as nettles, thistles and docks. Grassland weed control at this timing focuses on targeting weeds that have been encouraged to regrow after the first cut. This is an ideal time to apply herbicides to docks, thistles, and other broadleaf weeds, especially when they are *actively growing in their rosette stage.

Checking for the presence of winged aphids in crops especially during periods of warmer weather is vital and gives you time to consider control options if aphids are present.

With late blight pressure increasing across the UK, growers should remain vigilant for symptoms of the disease. Growers are advised to respond with robust blight control strategies and pay careful attention to protecting tubers from the high risk of infective blight spores.