I.D of crop

[wildherbalian85]

Of late i have been in the countryside and have noticed that most farmers are growing this strange crop that i can not I.D.

Basicaly the plant grows to about 5ft and is very branchy but it has no foilage, instead it has 100's of these pod things that at first i thought might be some kind of pea but the contents of the pod is tiny. It would seem that the fields of this crop must be left to dry.

DOes anybody have any idea's as to what it could be???

[JennyS]

Sounds like Rapeseed

[NickCantle]

I've been racking my brains and Jenny's on the ball Yes, sounds like Rapeseed- small green pods on quite slender stems. Perhaps averaging 4ft ish? It's growing all around here

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Sounds like Rapeseed

But is that not yellow?? and also found with foliage?

[NickCantle]

Not when it's not in flower. The Rapeseed in the field next to our house was flowering about a month ago, but it's all stringy and 'poddy' now

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

I've been racking my brains and Jenny's on the ball Yes, sounds like Rapeseed- small green pods on quite slender stems. Perhaps averaging 4ft ish? It's growing all around here

I think she is right there though some of the crops round here are 5 foot infact in one or two areas they go above my head hight.

After rape seed was sudjested i googled it and all i got was pictures of yellow leafy plant's So i typed mature rape seed and finaly spotted a picture with a crop that looks just like the ones im talking about.

Thanks Jenny and Nick.

[RobSutton]

I think they often spray it with a herbicide and then leave it standing to dry before harvesting - that might explain why it apparently has no foliage.

[NickCantle]

That'd explain it too Rob

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Not when it's not in flower. The Rapeseed in the field next to our house was flowering about a month ago, but it's all stringy and 'poddy' now

If before today you had asked me to describe rapeseed then i would have said yellow flowered mustard like plant

Yet all this time i have been walking through these fields of this "strange looking" crop and wondering what the hell it is and is it edible, all along it was rapeseed

[NickCantle]

A couple of months or so, I was in the same state of mind We live and learn

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

I think they often spray it with a herbicide and then leave it standing to dry before harvesting - that might explain why it apparently has no foliage.

no im not so sure on that mainly because there is often other plants with it. For instance today i was walking through a crop of this stuff and the narrow walked in path was densely packed with what appeared to be camomile though it could have been another similar looking flower.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

A couple of months or so, I was in the same state of mind We live and learn

Indeed

[NickCantle]

Are you sure you don't live next door? It's the same here. That's about 1 foot high, with the little white Daisy-like flowers. The occasional Poppy here and there

[Pete Collins]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one to have been fooled by Oilseed Rape!

Last year I kept coming across this strange crop when I went walking, and had no idea what it was. It was months later that the penny dropped and I realised what it was!

I'm so used to seeing it as a field of dazzling yellow, I just hadn't realised what it looked like after the flowers had gone.

[RobSutton]

I think the two most commonly applied chemicals are glyphosate and Reglone. Framers talk about them as dessicants rather than herbicides. I think they tend to use this method when the ground is wet. Usually the crop is "swathed" ie cut and allowed to dry on the ground but if the ground is wet then there are obvious risks in doing this.

I'm not sure how specific these chemicals are. It could be that they only affect the rape and leave other things alone or perhaps the method of application leaves other things untouched. Maybe once the plant has set seed it would dry naturally if left standing?

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

I think the two most commonly applied chemicals are glyphosate and Reglone. Framers talk about them as dessicants rather than herbicides. I think they tend to use this method when the ground is wet. Usually the crop is "swathed" ie cut and allowed to dry on the ground but if the ground is wet then there are obvious risks in doing this.

I'm not sure how specific these chemicals are. It could be that they only affect the rape and leave other things alone or perhaps the method of application leaves other things untouched. Maybe once the plant has set seed it would dry naturally if left standing?

Most of the ground down this way is chalk down. So the ground dry's very quickly at this time of year - even after days of rain.

I have yet to see any that have been cut - i think they are just left in place to dry out in the sun.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Are you sure you don't live next door? It's the same here. That's about 1 foot high, with the little white Daisy-like flowers. The occasional Poppy here and there

Same here i to see poppies amongst other plants

[Hornbeam]

Awful thing about oilseed rape is that it is now seen as the answer to oil shortages and high prices. Many farmers here and in America etc are growing it on 50% of their land. That means that land is not being used to grow food anymore and so worsening the world food shortfall. In Britain it has meant that set aside that was so good for wildflowers, insects and birds has been tossed aside. So why isn't English Nature (or whatever they call themselves now) making a fuss? When the last car drinks the last drop of bio-fuel will the fields bloom again?

[IanS]

Glyphosate is a broad spectrum herbicide ie kills all plants (there are exceptions). Reglone is diquat another compound used for plant dessication before harvest. This is common practice to help dry the crop before harvest.

[Meta menardi]

Oil seed rape has been grown on a large area of this country for more than 20 years. It is very unlikely to be sprayed with glyphosate or Reglone, both chemicals are expensive and have no role in growing the crop.

It is a very common oil-seed crop that is primarily used for food.

Please don't confuse the problems we have with inapropriate crops with crops that have been grown for years, and that have a very sensible role in crop rotations.

[naturegirl]

On Romney Marsh here we have 'pea pickers', machinery which harvests the Rape fields and they go on all night until it is completed. I hate the Rape seed when it is in flower as I am asthmatic and suffer from hayfever too. which is exacerbated by pollen from Rape seed flowers. The 'Feverfew' type plant is a wild daisy and is very pungent/stinky! It's common name is 'Ox eye daisy' and I think it is related to the Chrysanthemum family but very pretty.
Naturegirl

[JennyS]

the narrow walked in path was densely packed with what appeared to be camomile though it could have been another similar looking flower

Could be one of the Mayweeds, Tripleurospernum or Matricaria species.....

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Oil seed rape has been grown on a large area of this country for more than 20 years. It is very unlikely to be sprayed with glyphosate or Reglone, both chemicals are expensive and have no role in growing the crop.

Herbicides are routinely used on oilseed rape - not whilst they are growing but to "dry' the crop prior to harvesting, by using them they are able to harvest more quickly and so loose less yield.

The following is a quote from a press release from the Oilseed Rape Growers Association:

"Just under 70% identify lower harvesting costs - including both fuel and labour savings - as a key benefit of direct combining, with quicker combining and reduced contractor use valued by more than a third of growers and more reliable harvesting, lower harvesting losses and more timely harvesting also mentioned by many.
"The value of reliable desiccation is underlined by much greater proportions of those using Roundup reporting benefits in all these respects," he adds.
Reflecting the generally good harvesting conditions of last summer, only 11% of OSR crops caused growers in the Masstock study any real harvesting difficulties in 2005, with 44% judged very easy to harvest with no problems. Even so, there was a clear difference in harvestability between different crop types. Over 60% of the low biomass varieties Castille, Caracas and Canberra were rated very easy to harvest, with just 6% causing any difficulty. In contrast only 28% of high biomass types like Winner, Toccata and Royal were found to present no problems with 19% giving some difficulties.
"This difference was also reflected in combining speed," notes David Langton. "Of the crops all or mostly direct cut, 44% of low biomass varieties were combined at more than 4 acres/hour, compared to just 35% of high biomass ones
"Interestingly too, a noticeably higher proportion of those desiccating all or most of their OSR with Roundup combined at higher speeds than those not using the desiccant. As did more of those using Claas combines as against other makes."

[mrs fish]

I always see Pineapple Weed by fields.

If they aren't sprayed with herbicides then where are the other plants that would grow or millions of Small White butterflies ?

Is Rape what margarine and vegtable cooking oil is made out of ?