Air September 12, 2001

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. With all that has happened in the past 24 hours it is hard to stay focused on the coming season, and the necessary tasks coming up. But fall harvest is starting and wheat planting is not that far away.

We haven’t talk too much about Hessian Fly Free date in recent years. It doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away. Too the contrary, Hessian Fly is still a fairly big problem and very few varieties have much, if any, resistance to Hessian Fly. But Hessian Fly is just the tip of the iceberg. There are also the issues of Barley Yellow Dwarf, wheat curl mites and Wheat Streak Mosaic. We know that over the long run, Barley Yellow Dwarf and Wheat Streak Mosaic problems are reduced by not planting until after the Fly Free date. Naturally, we also have the management of the volunteer wheat that comes into play with Wheat Streak and other disease and insect problems as well. We had volunteer wheat plants that survived all through the summer and were then augmented by a strong flush of new volunteer in late August and early September. These factors just accentuate the need to control volunteer wheat and follow the fly free planting date recommendations. I will be the first to acknowledge that in some years, your better yielding wheat may be the stuff that was planted in late September. But there are also a good number of years when planting early makes no difference or hurts your yield. I know that there are concerns about availability of forages for cattle this fall, and volunteer wheat may be looking like a good short term supplemental feed. If you want to graze a fall cereal, tear up that volunteer and then plant some triticale or some other wheat for grazing. You’ll have better yield, more grazing, and less insect and disease problems. If you are planting wheat early purely for grazing out, then Hessian fly should not be a concern. Plant a good grazing wheat. Many of our normal grain production varieties are not that great for grazing, other than Jagger, so look for 2174, Champ, Coronado, Longhorn or Mankato. Back to wheat for grain production planting dates. In all reality, we have an optimum window of about 10 days for wheat planting. WE can further stretch that out to about 25 to 30 days with a few adjustments. Plan to start planting October 5th and try to be done by the 15th or 20th.

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2001.

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