BERTIE 2002

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		30 September 2002 (2075 day degrees since sowing)
	Click for larger image	Quite a lot has happened since our last visit to BERTIE - he has got rust! The warm conditions have been ideal for development of rust. It appears as reddish-brown spots on the leaves from late July onwards. The disease can be controlled with triazole fungicides, which also control powdery mildew. Yield benefits from controlling rust are seldom economic, except when it arrives in July or early August and develops rapidly. We will keep an eye on BERTIE over the next few weeks to see how the disease develops. We do not intend to spray any fungicide on him, to do so would not be economically viable.

		2 September 2002 (1789 day degrees since sowing)
	It has been a couple of weeks since we last visited BERTIE - he doesn't seem to have minded though! There is no evidence of pest or disease damage. The thistles (creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense) growing around him emerged relatively late and will not have a serious impact on the growth of BERTIE.		Click for larger image

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