Wheat Update: How to Get the Most Out of Your Crop
Management Considerations
Since most fields are very wet at this time, you may want to consider fertilizing by air. A good mixture to use by air would be 1500 pounds of Urea and 500 pounds of Ammonium Sulfate per ton. This would give you a 39.5-0-0-6 mixture. Remember Sulfur is needed to use the N. You need to put the fertilizer out 5 days before the wheat JOINTS. Some wheat could joint as early as this Friday.
FHB is the biggest problem that has cut our yields in half and ruined the quality of wheat for the last four years. Rainfall or irrigation will increase infection if it occurs during the 5-6 days of flowering. Wheat growers MUST change their fungicides to control FHB.
Please look at labeled fungicidesand CHOOSE WISELY for FHB control. Below you will find what we have been doing wrong in the past years to control FHB.
Strobilurins can actually increase vomitoxin (DON) relative to an unsprayed check. This effect of increasing DON gets worse the closer you get to flowering. So, it’s best not to apply a strobilurin-containing fungicide after flag leaf – that goes for pure strobilurins and also strobilurin-triazole mixes. Some triazoles are more effective than others at reducing FHB kernel damage and vomitoxin. The GOOD ones are Caramba, Proline, Prosaro and THE BEST is MIRVAIS ACE . Tilt and Folicur do some good, but not enough in a bad scab year.
Bottom line: We would suggest to use Propiconazole or Tebuconazole to correct only early problems with powdery mildew. When your wheat normally flowers (Feekes 10.5: see first photo) and up to 5 days after flowering, put out Caramba, Proline, Prosaro, and the best MIRVAIS ACE. This approach should decrease your exposure to FHB while keeping the other diseases in check.
Foliar insecticide treatments for aphid control: A well-timed insecticide application of a persistent pyrethroid insecticide such as lambda cyhalothrin (Warrior, Karate, Lambda, Silencer, others) will kill aphids and reduce the incidence of BYD and increase yields.
A spray at Wheat Flowering will be one of the most important tools a wheat grower can use in 2021. Wheat gets FHB or SCAB during this flowering time.
Information from: Christina Cowger, Small Grains Pathologist USDA-ARS North Carolina State University and Intensive Wheat Management in Georgia.
If you have any questions, please give us a call!
GA Office: 229-734-5466
SC Office: 803-531-1777
Good Growing,
The Mixon Team
