Growing season 2022

The beginning of the growing season was strongly influenced by the strong layer of frost and snow in the winter season and the warmer period in January with water rains. Together, these caused an ice layer of approx. 10 cm on the surface of the field, which completely destroyed the winter fava bean and canola experiments. Also winter wheat fields suffered so badly from winter damage that they had to be sown again, except for a small control area.

The thermal growing season already started at the end of April, but due to the coolness and humidity of the spring, the first sowing on the sandy soil was only done on May 10. Sowing on clay soils started on 16.5. With the rains on late May- early June, the grain germination was steady.

The first silage crop was harvested on June 12-14. The vegetation developed more slowly than normal and the harvest was smaller than normal. The reasons for this were the coolness of the spring and the damage caused by the winter to the clover and alfalfa growths. The second silage was harvested in the last week of July and this harvest was also below normal. The reason for this is probably the ten-day heat period that started at Midsummer and the meager 50 mm rain total between the harvest intervals. The third fodder crop developed to be harvested only on some parts of the silage blocks.

Cereal crops and peas developed normally and there were not many weeds. Yield levels were reasonable. The fava bean was short, sparse and there were a lot of weeds. The yield level was weak.