With grass weeds an increasing problem on farms, the battle for control should be starting now. Visitors at the East Lothian Monitor Farm summer meeting heard how cultural methods should be the mainstays of control, with work beginning now to map the extent of the problem before harvest. 

Speaking to attendees at the event, Scottish Agronomy agronomist Stevie Gray said understanding what grass weeds were present on farm and mapping where they were should be done now.  “Brome is an increasing problem, and understanding which type of brome or grass weed you have may not seem like a priority. Use the next few weeks before harvest to get out and identify which brome or grass weed species are present on your farm as that will impact what you do next.” 

The East Lothian Monitor Farm, at Castleton near North Berwick has an increasing grass weed issue, with farmer Stuart McNicol facing high herbicide costs. Brome has built up on-farm for a variety of reasons, and this is now impacting on crop management decisions. 

Stevie said: “Brome is being favoured by the increase in non-inversion tillage as its seeds are no longer being buried; we often find farms several years into a non-inversion tillage system running into problems with grass weed control. 

“Sterile brome is the main problem at Castleton, but other farms could have multiple types of brome or blackgrass, and some have different bromes in different areas of their farms.” 

He recommends growers use an online Rothamsted Research publication called ‘Which brome is that?’ which is available on the Monitor Farm Scotland website [insert link once uploaded] to help identify what species is on-farm. “It’s a good place to start as brome species can often look similar.”