Session Overview & Objectives Get started
- I can describe how plants change as they grow in cereals, pulses, OSR, potatoes and sugar beet.
- I can explain how growth-stage systems and visual markers describe those changes.
- I can explain why growth stages matter for crop management.
- Stretch: I can use observations from a crop walk to support a management decision.
What has changed?
Look at a crop and describe what you can actually see before explaining why it matters.
Learning: Growth Stages Are Visual Markers Know this
Why use growth-stage codes?
What is the main advantage of using a growth-stage system?
Numbered growth stages for cereals describe development using visible features such as leaves and tillers, for example identifying a stage and picturing a plant at GS15.
Crop Walk & Monitoring Record Do this
Where would you walk?
Sketch or describe a representative W-shaped/zig-zag field-walking route that samples different areas rather than just the headland.
Crop monitoring record
Decision: The Technician Question Collect evidence
Your boss asks: "What growth stage is this crop at, and why does it matter?"
Photograph the crop at each growth stage checked, alongside your monitoring record, as evidence for your Learning Journal.
Employer Discussion Talk about this
Ask your supervisor what growth stage information they use to make management decisions (e.g. spraying, fertiliser timing) and how often they walk the crop. Record their answer and compare it with your monitoring record above.