Air September 10, 2003

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. It's nice to see that we can keep rain in the forecast and the temperatures have been so close to normal it's been scary!!!! We are rapidly approaching wheat planting date so let me hit some of the highlights from last Wednesdays meeting.

We are rapidly approaching wheat planting time and you need to be getting you and your plans in order. Obviously, choice of variety is big on everyone's mind and the big thing is to use varieties that have good yield potential and as good of a package of disease resistance as possible. The diseases we really need to look out for are soil borne and spindle streak mosaic (so forget most of the Nebraska and Colorado wheats), leaf rust and stripe rust resistance, (few have outstanding of both so do the best you can) and then tan spot resistance if you are planting into a lot of residue. If you are going to try planting early for wheat pasture utilization, try to find something with Hessian Fly resistance. This narrows the list substantially but lets say you need to consider 2137, 2145 or Dominator if you are serious about grazing. For stictly grain production, try to get the wheat planted from October 1st to the 15th. Planting earlier doesn't gain you anything in yield potential in most years. Planting rates probably need to start at 80 pounds per acre, more if you have large seed, and then increase about 20 pounds per acre for every 10 days after October 10th. Later planting results in fewer tillers per plant so you need more plants to make up the difference. Probably the one management practice where everyone hurts themselves is with fertilization. I would say that fully 2/3 of all wheat producers are not applying adequate fertilizer to take advantage of the genetic potential of today's wheat varieties. Assuming normal nitrogen carryover rates, you should probably be applying a minimum of 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre with an additional 20 pounds if you are in no till. Don't worry about wheat falling down. Newer varieties stand much better than good old triumph. Put on 60 or so pounds in the fall and then you have the flexibility to put on more with a spring top dress if conditions look favorable. A soil test that includes profile nitrogen, sulfur and chloride is probably in order if you haven't done one for many years. The biggest limiting factor in our wheat production is probably fertility, so don't let it limit your fields!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2003.

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