Agripro Field Notes

Wheat field notes for the 2010 growing season

Harvest continues in SW Nebraska, NE Colorado, the Nebraska panhandle and South Dakota. Reports from these areas indicate above average yields in most locations, with some average yields reported in some localized areas.

Farmer reports and initial plot data, indicate up to a 20 to 25 bushel yield advantage from Fungicide applications, in areas with heavy stripe rust and disease.

Protein, or lack of it, is still a concern in many areas. Some protein data I have been looking at, indicates that Art and PostRock have an advantage in protein. Compared to the average, 1/2 percent or so higher. Compared to some of the lower protein wheats, up to 1 1/2 percent higher protein. I will continue to analyze data and have something up, when we put the yield data on the website.

http://www.agriprowheat.com/cp.php

Field day week in South Dakota. We had an excellent set of field days with our Associates and cooperating producers. Our plots look good and should have very good yields. Harvest looks to be 10 days to two weeks away. Tan spot was the prevelant disease, with light pressure from stripe rust and bacteria.

Wet weather and no-till into wheat stubble means that tan spot is a significant disease. No-till has become the norm in this region. Producers who are managing with fungicides and varieties are going to be rewarded with an excellent crop.

Winter annual grasses are becoming an important managment challenge. AP503 CL2 along with Beyond looks to be doing a good job on the grasses, including feral rye. To see some pictures of demonstration sites of this technology go to http://www.agriprowheat.com/varieties/cp/ap503_cl.php

Hawken looks to be finishing good and standing well. Some of the taller varieties used in the region were lodging.There was a lot of interest from producers in the semi dwarf wheats that stand well.

Harvest in much of South Central Kansas is wrapping up this week. Harvest is progressing in South West Kansas with a wide range in yields. Harvest has moved steadily North and West across the state, but likely will be several days before covering all areas of the state. I have recieved favorable yield and test weight reports where a fungicide was used to protect the flag leaf.

I have recieved good reports from SC Kansas on the performance of Art, Jackpot and TAM 203. In the west TAM 111 is again having a good year from early reports. I am also getting good reports on grassy weed control using AP503 CL2 and Beyond herbicide. I will be posting some pictures soon on our web page.

In South Central Kansas the wheat is ready, but the weather is not. We are in a period of high humidity with showers every other day. If we can get a day or two of sunshine, wind and no rain there will be some cutting going on in this area of Kansas.

Reports from the Southern Plains breeding program indicate that test weights are good, probably due to the unusually cool and wet conditions they had during grain fill.

In the Western areas of the Central Plains there is likely to be a large difference in yields. Those who applied fungicide for stripe rust control are likely to be very pleased if they had varieties that were susceptible to the new race of stripe rust. TAM 111 has held up very good to this new stripe rust and should be a star performer in the west. Some areas report they have missed rain the last 30 days and are dry. The stripe rust damage is also reported to be less in these areas.

Most of South Dakota continues with cool and damp conditions.

Stripe rust was light to moderate on susceptable varieties at Goodland, Kansas in the far Northwest part of the state.

Leaf rust was active at Winfield and Hutchinson in South Central KS ,on previously known susceptable varieties. Leaf rust will likely increase with the warmer temperatures and moisture.

I apologize for the late update but here it is…I was in NW KS on Monday and the wheat was just starting to head out around Quinter.  I traveled up to Oberlin and across Hwy 36 to Goodland.  Saw a lot of wheat that was not headed out but in the boot stage.  Moisture around Quinter was very good as I pushed out to just North of Goodland.  There I saw things starting to get dry with no disease.  There was a lot of wheat with very good potential.  I saw several spray planes spraying fungicide in this area as well.  I will be making another trip out this direction on Tues. and Wed. next week before the field day.  I will try to keep everybody up to date on any movement of stripe rust in this area.

Jon

Ask for a change in weather and you might get it. In my area (SC KS) it has been a cool and wet week, it appears this is the theme across most of the central plains.

Have been busy this week with wheat plot tours in this area. The wheat in the plots, in my estimation, ranged from average to below average yields. Planting date had a significant effect on their potential yield, to this point, with the later plantings having lower yield potential.

After 3 weeks of dry weather, the recent moisture has gotten the stripe rust active in this region. The wheat in this area, that has been headed for a month ,might escape without much loss. In a plot that was just past flowering, with active stripe rust on the flag leaves, there is much greater potential for yield loss. There is some leaf rust around but less than the stripe rust. With a warm, humid forecast we will have to watch for leaf rust.

A report from Clair Stymiest in South Dakota indicated that in the Pierre area of central SD, the flag leaf is starting to emerge on the winter wheat. Moisture is excellent and the crop has good potential at this time. They are watching for rust and will be applying fungicides after flag leaf emergence.

There are two very useful tools available to keep producers advised of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) potential in thier area. This website will let you know the FHB risk in your area.

http://www.wheatscab.psu.edu/riskTool_2010.html

A new tool will alert you through email, text or both, about the FHB risk potential in your region.

http://scabusa.org/fhb_alert.php

This should be useful for those who cannot check a website daily.

Attended the wheat plot tours in McPherson Co KS yesterday. They have 5 different plots to look at, all had different things to see. One location is a 5.0 pH with a high aluminum level. It was easy to see the varieties, such as AgriPro Art, that have low pH tolerance. Art has very good low pH tolerance.
Yield potential across the plots were highly variable, mostly depending on planting date, hail damage, and whether they received some rain in April. The maturity of the wheat ranged from heading, for a mid November doublecrop planting, to flowering for the normal planting time.
There was not heavy disease pressure yet. Barley yellow dwarf virus was starting to show up.

This week I have seen most of Central KS into OK and out to SW KS as well.  I saw moderate to heavy stripe rust in Enid, OK.  It really paid to spray in that area.  I am also seeing a lot of Barley Yellow Dwarf again this year.  It has to be a spring infestation during the dry period we had in late winter to early spring.    The south central part of KS was getting very dry, but much needed rains helped this week in some places.   As I traveled west past Kingman, the wheat was really dry and barely holding on.  As I entered Ford county, I saw some freeze damage just on the tips of several fields.  They had some very nice rains through this area and the wheat looked OK!  Stripe rust was found in our plot just east of Dodge City.  My travels then took me into Finney county where most of the irrigated wheat looked good…I was buzzed by several plains spraying fungicide!  This was a good choice because I found some light to moderate infections of Stripe Rust in our irrigated plot just south of Garden City.  The wheat just east of Ulysses was very, very dry and not looking good.   45 miles later the wheat started to get better and the wheat out in Manter, KS looked very good.  Some light stripe rust at this time but that was about it.  Back here in Junction City where the temps have been cool and wet, the stripe rust has started to become active again!  Just a reminder that the field day is in less than 2 weeks on May 27th!  Hope to see you all there!

Jon