South East: All crops have now finished flowering and with a good pod set and hopefully a long pod-filling period sustained by late N uptake and rain at last, yields should be respectable. Powdery mildew: just beginning to find first signs of infection developing, particularly in Recital. With damp soils, increased humidity, and a 4-6 week interval since last fungicides applied, will need to be vigilant and if necessary apply fungicide for control.

South West: Crops now well into seed fill. Canopies still standing well and have filled out noticeably as moisture allows N uptake. No adult saw fly seen as yet.

East: Petal fall virtually complete. Crops should at last take up last N dressing. The next operation for most crops will be desiccation or harvest.

East Midlands: Most crops green almost all over with just odd late flowering plants. Pods developing well and rain come in time to keep them going - harvest end June/early July on the cards.

West Midlands: Crops now finishing flowering.

North East: Most crops lost flowers when rain started and now have overall green appearance. Later crops still at mid-late flowering. Rain should help with seed development, but need the sunshine again now. Preliminary examination suggests crops are well podded, and seed set is good.

South East
Crop development: September and early October sown crops now commonly range between GS 49-52 (Claire/Alchemy) up to GS 55+ (late September sown Xi19/Einstein). All late September and early October sown crops of Einstein, Xi19 and Solstice now have ears around 1/3-fully emerged. All crops of Soissons are now flowering. Soils are at long last damp again following around 2.5-3 inches of rain in the last 10 days (first proper rain for 7 weeks).
Brown rust: still widespread on lower leaves all September sown crops of Alchemy, Solstice and Claire in particular, with active pustules increasingly evident on lower leaves (particularly leaves 4 and 5, but also odd pustules now appearing on leaf 3 of thicker crops) of crops where last fungicides applied around 2-3 weeks ago.
Mildew: still very hard to find any active pustules.
Septoria: very little evidence of Septoria in many crops from leaf 4 and above, even in Malacca/Solstice.
Eyespot: a few very early drilled Solstice (18-22 September) crops have such severe penetrating eyespot on main shoots, that in some cases these are already lodging.
Yellow rust: so far under control from fungicides already applied.

South West
Crop development: Most crops now at boots split to ear emerged with anthers showing on the earliest. Wet and windy weather has made flag leaf spraying difficult. Crops have thrived with the moisture and have made a lot of growth in the last week although they still remain shorter than usual. These shorter crops allow rain splash even more freedom to move Septoria from lower to upper leaves so robust triazole fungicide rates must now be maintained.
Brown rust: easing off in cooler conditions.
Mildew: levels still very low even on very susceptible varieties.
Septoria: development will speed up with the arrival of rain. Leaves 1,2,3 all clean however there is a lot of infection on the lower leaves of early sown Solstice.
Yellow rust: earlier epidemic now well contained by rust active triazoles.
Eyespot: some lesions have continued to penetrate.

East Midlands
Crop development: Forward crops have ears emerging with many in boot to boot splitting. Late drilled crops have flag leaf out. Continued wet days either as heavy showers or wet nights has meant that crops are wet but soils are OK from a travel point of view. Dry afternoon allowed some spraying on Monday. Some late N gone on this week - am doing tissue analysis on bread wheats to ascertain N uptake - crops appear to have taken a lot of N up recently by the way they have greened up to a dark green.
Mildew: levels very low.
Septoria: most crops clean down to leaf 4 but with continued wet weather T1 sprays now running out of steam.
Brown rust: none seen recently including Alchemy - controlled by T1 sprays.
Yellow rust: now present on Robigus where 3 weeks + after T1.
Eyespot: no progress of disease.
Cleavers: some regrowth from cleavers stunted by spring applied herbicide - not moving up crops yet but some will need control.

West Midlands
Crop development: Most wheats at full flag apart from January sown crops which have leaf 2 out. Gladiator has raced ahead this last week and has caught up with Einstein both of which have the ear half way out. Alchemy has come to a dramatic stop with just the early September crops at booting. What a difference a week makes, we have had somewhere between 3 1/2-4 1/2 inches of rain, majority of fields will travel with row crops when spraying conditions are OK (few and far between at the moment what with showers and high winds). Very few proper T2 fungicides have been applied due to the poor conditions, most crops are now at 3 weeks from T1 with some at 4 weeks. Majority of crops will end up with a T2/T3 combined. Some signs of root lodging on big crops of wheat due to very heavy rain, high wind and very wet soil.
Brown rust: still only finding very isolated cases and none that is leaping up the crop.
Mildew: visible on Einstein, Solstice, Gladiator and Alchemy.
Septoria: clean crops at the moment but expecting pressure to rise with the high levels of rainfall combined with warm conditions.
Eyespot: still visible on stem bases, particularly Einstein.
Slugs: rain has brought yet another flush up onto leaves some places have severe shredding.
Aphids: colonies visible in the bottom of crops but not increasing as yet.

East
Crop development: Most crops at GS 37 - 45, booting. 60-70mm rain in last week, but too late for some second wheat and crops on light land. Low yields expected as crops are very thin having lost many tillers. Weather is now delaying flag fungicides.
Brown rust: confined to lower leaves on Alchemy (4 and below), but common, also on Robigus and Solstice.
Yellow rust: increasing in last few days in Robigus.
Mildew: low levels on Einstein - early fungicides holding disease on Solstice.
Septoria: risk increasing although still confined to leaf 5 and below with occasional lesion on leaf 4, particularly Einstein and Nijinsky.
Eyespot: at low levels.
Some late germinating spring wild oats seen at 2 leaves. Recent rain may germinate more particularly in later drilled, shorter crops.

North East
Crop development: Leaf sheath splitting in earliest crops of Robigus and Cordiale. All other first wheats at booting, and second wheats range from GS 37 -39. Had enough rain this week, 64 mm recorded locally for last 7 days, of which 40 mm fell over one night. Catchy weather means some fields had T2 + low rate PGR, but early ear emergence in many crops means will have to omit late PGR now.
Brown rust: control by T1 fungicides has been good, but crops still under threat.
Mildew: slight increase on light land.
Septoria: always present on older leaves. Rain has increased the risk.
Eyespot: low levels, no increase.
Yellow rust: no new infection seen this week, but crops still at risk.
Take-all: low levels now showing in second wheats.
Orange blossom midge: several hotspots identified in area over last few years. OWBM traps will be deployed during next 7 days.

UPDATE Leaf Emergence in Winter Wheat. Comparing this year's growth rate with last year's.

Comparison of leaf development 2006 vs 07. Crops sown at Morley trial site. The crops were sown on the 05 October 2005 and 09 October 2006.

The graph shows the rate of leaf emergence over time and shows that Gladiator has been the first to reach full flag emergence in both years. Robigus and Einstein have not been far behind. This year it has taken about 19 days between leaf 3 being fully emerged through to the flag leaf being fully emerged. Solstice, in both years, has taken 23 days between leaf 3 75% emerged, T1 timing, through to full flag. See leaf-emergence.co.uk for more sites and varieties. This study is sponsored by Bayer Cropscience. Temperature a big influence This year the flag leaf has taken between 10 to 14 days to emerge in these mid October sown plots at Morley, which is a little longer than last year. However, they remain 8 to 10 days earlier than last year. It has taken about 20 days for leaf 2 and the flag to fully emerge irrespective of variety. It does seem that temperature is the main driving force determining the rate of growth and emergence of the top leaves of the canopy and is more influential than day length. Temperature is also the main factor determining grain development and consequently harvest date. Disease Risk The rusts remain a threat this year with both yellow and brown rust active in the east of the country, as recorded at the NIAB monitored Rust Trap Nurseries. There continues to be a high probability (at least 70%) that mean summer temperatures will be above average, according to the Met Office, which would favour the development of brown rust. In commercial crops brown rust in Alchemy has been found across the country, mainly on lower leaves. Yellow rust is less common having being checked by earlier fungicides and a warm dry period. However, the return to cooler damper conditions over the next week could encourage yellow rust. At the Rust Traps the Robigus race has been recorded at five of the six sites. Brown rust - varieties at risk: Consort, Soissons, Alchemy, Solstice, Istabraq, Einstein, Nijinsky, Claire. Yellow rust - varieties at risk: Robigus, Glasgow, Napier, Ambrosia, Wizard, Consort, Einstein, Soissons.

South East: All crops of Sequel/Pearl are now at full ear emergence and nearing the end of flowering.

South West: Many crops flowering and all treatments except pre harvest glyphosate now complete.

Midlands: All crops now have ears fully emerged - flowering starting on some and no more action to be taken unless something abnormal such as high aphid build up. Awn sprays keeping crops clean of all diseases. In the West all barley crops now at full ear emergence with flowering either starting or complete. Some Saffron has lodged under extreme wet/windy conditions on fertile land.

East: Crops range from GS 39 to 63 (full flag to early flower). Most at GS 49-55, ears emerging. Low disease levels. T2 being finished this week.

North East: Most crops at early flowering now. Crops looking lusher now had some rain. Maybe more crops should have had some PGR as expect to see some vigorous growth now.

South West: Early to mid flowering. Bruchid beetle: first insecticide will be applied with fungicide at mid flower followed by second dose 7 days later. Usual caution re bees advised.

Midlands: Downy mildew: starting to come into Fuego. Poor performance from pre-emergence herbicides.

North East: 5-6 pairs leaves now, and at about 10cm tall. Plenty of moisture now, and crops growing vigorously. Most crops OK, but some areas of lighter land have dense patches of Chickweed, Groundsel and Shepherds Purse. Chocolate spot: at low levels.