Failed Field of OSR

Are there any farmers out there that can tell me what is happening with several fields of Oil Seed Rape near me

most of the OSR field are in full flower and pollen and nectar is pouring in BUT about one in five fields are very sparse in flower and seed are not setting, flower buds are just going dry rather than opening.

is it a disease or just drought

I seen some discussion elsewhere about flea beetle damaging OSR.

This in turn seems to be igniting some lively debate about the pros & cons of spraying vs Neonic treatments.

Also interestingly some comments about the possibility of newer self pollinating OSR that doesn't produce nectar.

How dry is it where you are? I wouldnt think it would be drought this early, though it depends where you live i guess.

How wet were those fields over winter? OSR is very sensitive to waterlogged ground - the root system does not develop and the dry spring we have had could be stressing a crop with poor roots. Most of the OSR round here, even good crops, is restricted height - due to cold dry spring I think

Late pigeon damage can also be a factor - were those fields back to brown earth in February?

MuswellMetro said:

, flower buds are just going dry rather than opening.

is

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Sounds like pollen beetle. Are they worst on the border area of field?

it is in a dryish, Clay over chalk (Shenley Chalk mine is nearbye) but there is no chalk outcrops or white plough soil

To finman, there are more problems near the edges but that in februrary the edges appeared to be pigeon damage

see photos

My money is on pollen beetle.

Was chatting to the farmer where I have hives. He said two issues. Firstly there is a lot of pollen beetle this year which he's sprayed for but didn't seem to get them all. His main issue this year has been the cold spring meaning 2 things. 1. The rape has taken a while to get going 2. Linking in to 1, pigeons have been an epic problem this year and massacred large areas of rape before winter, then the cold spring has meant that farmers have been late to plant the spring crops (which pigeons then move on to leaving the rape to get going) yet as they have not planted, the pigeons stunted the rape growth further meaning it is very patchy. He thinks it will still have patches flowering in July as a result. I've had little or no flow from the rape yet, only 2 hives supered, very disappointing. Hoping the rain in the next few days then warmer temps will pep it up.

Roola said:

I've had little or no flow from the rape yet, only 2 hives supered, very disappointing. Hoping the rain in the next few days then warmer temps will pep it up.

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Though mine were busy yesterday and coming in dusted with yellow, so maybe it's picking up

Might be a bit of a silly question, but how long is OSR normally in flower? 4 weeks or longer?

We checked our Hives over the weekend and they are going but slow. But we have to add that our Colonies are small anyway, so we don't expect them to bring any in for us.

We did add a full, strong Hive over the weekend and will check next weekend to see the difference. I would expect that they will fill a Super and hopefully more. The weather seems to be very unlucky right now. Cherries, Apples and OSR in Blossom and it's rainy, windy and sometimes too cold.

Last year I wrote "Rape started" in my diary on 11 Apr and was confident enough that it was over to be extracting on 27 May

I think it will be later this year - but if I find individual frames ready for extraction before then (which currently looks unlikely!) I will take them, because even that early I had significant quantities of crystallised honey

Roola said:

pigeons have been an epic problem this year and massacred large areas of rape before winter, then the cold spring has meant that farmers have been late to plant the spring crops (which pigeons then move on to leaving the rape to get going) yet as they have not planted, the pigeons stunted the rape growth further

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Pigeons are going to be more and more of a problem for agriculture in general I think - it's a very successful species and there's an annual exponential rise in their numbers. Figures vary as to how much damage they do financially but on wheat, pigeon will eat the equivalent of a loaf of bread in six days.
They love brassicas and clover so the damage they do to agriculture is immense. Part of the blame can be put down to the Forestry Commission - they hacked down millions of tons of woodland during two world wars (and mixed woodland was an important source of food for pigeons) and replaced with bland conifers.
Up until the sixties or seventies there were government sponsored 'Pigoen societies' in arable areas, they would go around in the spring destroying nests and they could supply cheap shotgun cartridges for crop protection. people like Major Archie Coates made a living from pigeon shooting - not being paid to control them, but by selling the pigeons down in London for the restaurant trade. All they did was keep a cap on a healthy population of woodies - what the answer is now i have no idea. But if Clegg and his handwringers keep a stranglehold on the governent nothing will come from Westminster (but then again i doubt any party would tackle itas the bunny huggers would be up in arms)

Luka22 said:

The weather seems to be very unlucky right now. Cherries, Apples and OSR in Blossom and it's rainy, windy and sometimes too cold.

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Plenty out there in my locale, but generally has been too cold for any nectar flow. I would think, not much hope to get any early virgins mated either.

Min of Ag stats. show an increase in population of 2.5-3 times since 1975 - pretty much straight line, rather than exponential. That's also pretty much the time we started planting OSR to help them through the late winter

I found a source that says pine martens prey on wood pigeon too. Let's get them back sharpish and they can deal with the pigeons when they are bored with grey squirrel

Stop/start weather on rape is a real PITA, but I guess pretty normal! I've had to take off and extract what little had been produced a couple of days ago, as some was starting to harden. Am guessing it was what they made when we had a week of half decent weather (20th-26thish)...followed by 1C at night and daytime highs of 10,11'12C. Possibly bees retreated to the brood chambers to keep temps up. Anyway, new supers on now, old ones extracted and rinsed....all ready for the next cold spell!