United Kingdom
August 16, 2023

Second wheats are yielding well, with RGT Lantern achieving pleasing quality and looking good in the field.

In the east, Marcus Struthers, arable manager at Tyler Farms, Oakham, Rutland is halfway through his 80ha of RGT Lantern, grown as second wheat. “I’m pleased with it, it’s coming off really well – I have found all our second wheats have had fairly strong yields this year,” he says.

It has been yielding 10t/ha at 14-16% moisture. “We’re probably yielding similar to our first wheats, I’m really chuffed with how it’s going. The block we have harvested has looked a fair crop all year.”

It did have a slow start, says Marcus. “But it did what RGT Lantern does, and it tillered, took off and bulked up.”

And he is happy with how it’s performing, particularly with the growing season it’s had. “It hasn’t been the easiest of years, because it has been so wet it did have some larger gaps between inputs. We applied 80kg/ha of nitrogen at the end of February, then it was a month before it had a second dose – 100kg/ha in the first week of April and 40kg/ha in the last week. And because of the hills we’re on, a T0 was delayed due to ground conditions, and the crop started to grow away from us, so we added in – Cerone – which we used at T2.

“T0’s were a bit behind where they needed to be, or dropped completely, because of the ground conditions – as with everything it has been a bit of a compromise,” he adds.

“But 10t/ha second wheat is where we ought to be; with the high input costs we’ve had this year, we needed a decent yield.”

Quality has been good, too. “I’m always pleased with RGT Lantern, specific weights have been around 75kg/hl, so I’m happy with that. It has looked nice growing all year.”

Marcus likes the consistent nature of RGT Lantern. “It’s good and consistent, it’s not one that would normally go flat, although we did have some go down this year due to late storms. It tillers out and offers good weed and blackgrass suppression; we’re putting it in again next year so that says everything really.”

RGT Lantern: Key traits

• Excellent second wheat
• Strong tillerer
• Semi-prostrate habit – competes v blackgrass
• Good vigour
• Short stiff straw
• Excellent lodging resistance
• Good disease resistance
• OWBM resistance
• Very high yields
• Consistent performance
• Hard feed wheat
• Not on RL but one of best second wheats around

Website: http://www.ragt.co.uk

Published: August 16, 2023