Air September 25, 2002

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. I had the chance to be in Colorado and a good chunk of southwest and western Kansas last week. While in most of the area the fall crops look pretty tough - pastures are greening up from recent rains, AND I saw a lot of wheat in the ground and up in southwest and western Kansas. If you are still holding on to wheat hoping for higher movement - I might start considering dumping it because once it becomes apparent how much wheat is in the ground and up, we could see some real free falls. For whatever my opinion is worth!

Let’s talk about wheat planting this morning. It’s too early. I should just stop there and be done early, but you know I can’t. Early planting, being described here as anything prior to the Hessian Fly free date of October 5th, is setting yourself up for potential problems. Wheat curl mites, the vector of wheat streak mosaic are probably out there, hiding in gosh knows what , waiting to nail some unsuspecting wheat field. Hessian Fly is an often overlooked problem that is much more prevalent than most producers realize and very few wheat varieties any resistance at all. Additionally, early planted wheat can have extensive fall growth. This is okay if you need or want some fall cattle pasture, but excessive fall growth can be very attractive to aphids, which carry Barley Yellow Dwarf, If it turns into a dry spring, again, excessive fall growth simply uses up valuable moisture that the crop will need in the spring. The newer wheats of the last 20 years do not need a lot of growth to get through winter and give good yield next spring. Planting October 5th through October 20th will allow plenty of time for the fall growth needed for optimal yield next spring. If you do want to plant some wheat early for grazing, then plant one that has at least some Hessian Fly resistance. Dominator probably has about the best Hessian Fly resistance of anything that’s being regularly planted. Behind that, look at 2137, 2145 and 2174. Dominator does have good grazing potential, with 2174 being very good, 2145 average and 2137 not so great for grazing. Grazing does not eliminate hessian fly problems by the way. It’s still only September, and I know that many of you are itching to do something, but planting wheat isn’t it. Hold on another 10 days, please!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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