- Early sowing of rapeseed requires intensive protection.
- Sowing dates in Poland are being postponed.
The former optimal dates are now early ones
There is still some time left to sow rapeseed, although some farms will probably choose very early sowing. As we know, so far the optimal sowing dates were officially considered to be August 5-10 in north-eastern Poland, August 10-15 in the east of the country, August 15-20 in central Poland, and August 20-25 in the western and southwestern regions. The discussion on sowing dates has been going on for some time, we wrote about it on farmer.pl, among others: here:
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However, these dates should be considered early at the moment, and the optimal ones are proposed to be postponed by 5-10 days. Taking into account the course of autumn in recent years, this is absolutely justified. Undoubtedly, when sowing rapeseed, e.g. in Podlasie around August 5 or in Lower Silesia on August 20, we will be talking about early dates. Let's consider whether it is worth sowing rapeseed so quickly.
Early sowing = intensive protection
When sowing rapeseed very early, you must take into account that fungicide and regulatory protection will most likely not be achieved in one treatment. Last year, sowing in mid-August meant that at least two, and in many plantations three, applications had to be made in the fall. Basically, two fungicide treatments were necessary even in plantations sown at the end of August, so in the very early ones, three were the standard in most cases (although they were not performed everywhere).
However, although the previous season was exceptional in this respect, even with a "normal" arrangement of autumn agro-meteorological conditions, there is practically no chance that the plantation would be protected in autumn by only one treatment. When sowing rapeseed at very early dates, we must assume that the protective technology will be intensive. The pressure of pathogens will be greater due to the time the plants remain in the field in autumn. The same applies to pests.
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Rapeseed can excessively expand biomass
Last year's autumn was a perfect example of how vegetation progresses on plantations established very early. Of course, this is a generalization, because what we are talking about here is the weather pattern, which caused a very large increase in biomass even in sites where rapeseed was sown at the turn of August and September. However, too abundant biomass is not a beneficial phenomenon. Instead of developing a root system, plants build leaf mass, which results in the formation of a tap root that is not deep enough to fully effectively draw resources from the deeper layers of the soil profile. Too much biomass also brings other problems. After all, it must be fed, and therefore with nitrogen deposits, but also, among others, phosphorus and potassium are depleted faster. Moreover, such a strongly built plant is generally more exposed to frost and weaker wintering. Even if the winters in recent years have not been too intense, remember that the conditions in Central Europe are such that a strong winter may always appear.
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If there is no water, there is no point in sowing early
Early sowing of rapeseed basically means that the cultivation technology should be intensive. But very early sowing is justified only when the soil is well moistened and we want to use this water buffer. If we sow in "rocks", it is difficult to achieve good and even emergence, then it is definitely better to wait with sowing. It may be similar this season. Currently, most regions of the country are struggling with drought. If weather and field conditions do not change, there will be absolutely no conditions for sowing rapeseed very early. Please note that in severely dry areas it is currently difficult to achieve any good post-harvest cultivation or prepare the site for sowing. Especially if there is no heavy rainfall, there is no point in choosing very early sowing dates. Such plantations will usually not have even emergence, and what's more – some plants will not be able to germinate in very dry soil.
If the humidity conditions are appropriate, you can think about early or very early sowing, but we must keep in mind that we will need to focus even more on fungicide regulation and protection (and against pests). At the same time, even the former optimal dates should be considered early at the moment. Let's try not to approach agrotechnics in a standard way. Recent years, and especially last year, have shown that we need to look for some changes, including: on sowing dates.
