Keep an eye on setting up winter crops well to prep for a fruitful early spring
Keeping winter crops healthy to set up well for early spring 2026 looks to be even more vital this season given the very rapid establishment and initial crop growth around UK farms this autumn.
Winter crops including cereals, oilseeds and pulses have established extremely well on the whole this season in response to being drilled into good seedbeds, with sufficient moisture and relatively mild temperatures, which encouraged rapid germination and early growth conditions.
This pronounced early growth and extra plant biomass that many crops now have will need careful subsequent management over the coming winter period, especially as they head into early spring next year. Forward crops can very easily suffer as they come out of winter if sufficient nutrition, a healthy soil environment and soil microbiome is lacking.
A critical stage for crop growth and development, ensuring good soil health and correct plant nutrition before the onset of new spring growth will be essential to enhance and protect yields and profitability. All in the hope of avoiding a repeat of lower yielding crops in 2025.
Of course, we cannot predict what the weather will do next year but, experience tells us that increasing the health and resilience of our soils, through use of soil amendments like Sea2Soil, is getting more important each year as we see changing climatic patterns. Helping crops through difficult periods and extremes of drought, heat or flooding is a part of farm management that is becoming more vital.
“Feeding the soil is part and parcel of feeding the crops. Ensuring good soil health by applying Sea2Soil in early spring feeds the underground livestock in our soils, fostering beneficial microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and protozoa, and earthworms, which in turn help support more resilient crops,” says Grant James, UK Business Development Manager, Sea2Soil.
Split applications of Sea2Soil are recommended for all winter crops in both early autumn and early spring. This coincides with some of the most important periods in a crop’s life, where the first 30-60 days help a crop establish, develop shoots and roots in autumn before the main phase of growth and development in the crop kicks in during the early spring, once soil and air temperatures begin to rise after winter.
“Sea2Soil promotes a biologically active soil substrate, so the soil has better aeration, can retain moisture and releases nutrients in a bio-available form to plants, contributing to better stress tolerance in plants and promoting healthy growth of crops,” explains Grant James.
Cereal crops in particular can be vulnerable at these key stages if sufficient nutrition and soil health is not in place in soils to support them. Application of Sea2Soil is versatile and can be combined with other inputs such as early T0 spring fungicides, early spring herbicides or other crop nutrition applications.
Sea2Soil fish hydrolysate is a versatile soil improver that can be utilised by both the soil microbiome and the plant directly and contains a full range of naturally balanced amino acids and fatty acids. Rich in essential macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the product also provides vital micronutrients like calcium, magnesium and other trace elements in a bioavailable formulation, establishing a good basis for any crop nutritional plan. All these nutrients play a critical role in plant growth and development phases in the spring, flowering and yield-set. Helping the soil early this spring really will help the crops deliver healthier growth, yields and quality.
To find out more about early spring applications of Sea2Soil in either winter crops or ahead of establishing spring crops, please contact Grant James:
T: 07976 879646