Stunted plant growth after a lack of rainfall has put lentil crops in the Mid North and Yorke Peninsula on a watch and wait status by growers, with fungicide and some herbicide management programs being pushed back by up to a month.
Growers’ confidence and trust in the season ahead is low, according to YP Ag agronomist Justin McCormack, Maitland, and he said at this stage lentil crops could yield well below average.
“Growth has been severely hindered by a lack of soil moisture and it has caused slow and staggered emergence but, some crops have kept hanging on,” he said.
Hart graingrower Nathan Zweck said this year’s Hurricane lentil crop was the worst he had seen in four seasons.
About 250 hectares of lentils were sown between May 7-9 and Mr Zweck said all paddocks had showed visual signs of stress from frost damage and dry conditions.
“All paddocks have plants with a reddening of the leaves and are staggered in growth,” he said.
“We are about a month behind with fungicide spraying but if we get enough rain in August it will help to get that back on track.”
This time last year, Mr Zweck’s lentil crops were at 94 per cent canopy closure but this season crops were only at 13pc.
“We are expecting some yield impact this year but lentil crops can bounce back quickly with a good soaking rain,” he said.
Plants with chemical damage have also been found, Honner Agribusiness’ Simon Honner, Blyth, says.
Mr Honner said the lack of soil moisture had meant pre-emergence herbicide chemistry had caused leaf burning and plant losses.
“The chemistry needs moisture to activate so without rain the chemical is sitting on top of the crops instead and the weeds are not taking in the chemical,” he said.
“Leaf burning has occurred because the plants are too small to be able to fight off the chemical,” he said.
“Lentil crops have stunted in growth for about four weeks which is not helping growers make further spray decisions.”
Mr Honner said because of slow crop growth crucial fungicide applications would potentially begin in late August, about three weeks behind schedule compared with past seasons.
“Hopefully the delay in disease emergence does not mean it will arrive later in the season or by surprise,” he said.
Field pea crops had also been impacted by the lack of rainfall Mr Honner said with dehydrated and discoloured plants visible in paddocks.
But he said chickpea crops were coping well considering the tough conditions and so far were not showing any major signs of stress.
