FARMERS in Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland have been advised not to ignore their spring clean up of broadleaved weeds – despite challenging conditions.

Late May is typically the last opportunity to take out key problem weeds while fungicides are applied to tackle any disease pressures.

A very dry April across the three counties slowed crop growth and patchy rain is now reducing the number of spraying days available.

Caroline Smith, commercial technical manager at Dow AgroSciences, said winter wheat crops were looking thin in places.

“Soils are more exposed and the weeds are coming through.

We’ve seen some rain in the past few days but not much and probably not enough,” she said.

“When it does come, it will bring the crops on but the weeds will come with them.

“Many growers are in two minds over whether to take out the weeds now or wait for more rain so that they can catch anything else that comes through.

“We can already see groundsel, mayweeds, chickweed, cleavers and speedwells with poppies apparent on lighter land.”

She said it was a similar picture for spring cereals growers whose crops have struggled to establish. On lighter land, fat hen, black bindweed and thistles can be found in spring cereals.

“Throughout April and May, we have had warm days and cold nights – even a frost or two – so it has been challenging for growers.

“If you factor in competition from weeds, it only complicates the picture further, so many growers will be looking at spraying off those weeds now to give their spring crops the best possible chance.” “Growers who don’t pay attention to the weed spectrum are only storing up problems for harvest and creating a seed return for future years.”