Late Winter Wheat Drilling; Top Tips For 2024

Autumn 2023 was a difficult one for many, with the only real drilling window way back in September we have seen a deluge of rain since which seems to have no end in sight, with forecasts predicting wet weather into the new year. This has meant only a handful of opportunities to get on the land to cultivate and then sow autumn crops.

As we start to look to what 2024 will bring, it’s a natural instinct to turn to spring cereals for any land that didn’t get planted in the autumn - deliberately or otherwise! However, with shortages of spring cereals it’s now more important than ever to remember that autumn cereals can be sown successfully into the new year. So, here are my top tips for late sowing winter wheat!

Safe Sowing Date

Winter wheat like all autumn cereals require vernalisation which is a period of cold weather that’s required to produce a seed head. Vernalisation for each variety is slightly different and therefore its important to understand the individual varieties requirement before putting it in the ground. Thankfully the Wynnstay Autumn Seed Guide shows the safe sowing drilling window for the winter wheat in a helpful diagram. As you can see from below the majority of varieties can be sown safely up to the end of January, with a few varieties such as Champion go into February.

Vigour

This perhaps is the most important consideration when deciding a late drill variety, a more vigorous variety can grow away from early problems increasing plant survival which is increasingly more important the later the drilling date. This is also where the most differences are seen between varieties also so its important to understand this. However, thankfully we have a way of assessing this by measuring the speed of development in days to growth stage 31. The more vigorous the variety the shorter it takes to reach that growth stage. When sowing post-Christmas ensure you pick a vigorous variety, the seed team can help you do this.

Sowing Rates  

When planting later than October it’s important to understand that while its perfectly safe to sow the crop two factors must be remembered, colder soil temperatures mean not only is the seed less likely to germinate it is also more exposed to pests and diseases, survival percentages drop. Secondly the later the crop is planter the less capability it has to tiller. This becomes especially true for crops sown post-Christmas. Therefore, less seed heads are produced at the same seed rate, so yield diminishes. Therefore, with both these factors combined we must increase the seed rate to compensate. How much compensation does depend upon the TGW, but you should be aiming for around the 400 seeds m2 mark, which based on a TGW of 50 is 200kg/ha.

Top varieties

After considering all the information above its worth noting a few key varieties for late sowing. RGT Skyfall has an extremely low vernalisation requirement allowing it to be safely sown until the end of February the latest on the AHDB list. KWS Extase, Champion and KWS Cranium are all varieties with a quick speed of development and can be sown until the end of January.

Speak to the Seed Department on 01939 210777 to inquire on availability on autumn cereals for late sowing.