Air April 28, 2004

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone.

It was certainly good to get some rain late last week. We are still running a bit behind for April, but not as bad as we were. With the rain earlier in the year and the good temperatures, the brome grass is looking really good right now. One problem that I've noticed with our bromegrass, especially after sampling quite a few bales for producers, is that most bromegrass is cut much later than it should. So instead of having bromegrass at 9 to 12% protein, as desired, we've got brome hay, or rather brome straw, at 5 and 6 percent protein. How do you make higher protein brome hay? You cut it earlier!!!!!! Instead of waiting for it to head out and start blooming, you cut it in late boot just as it is heading out. But Chuck, won't that really hurt yield? Not as much as you might think, and you may end up with far more pounds of protein by cutting a little earlier! But you need to start watching it now, and getting ready to roll rather than waiting until you see the pollen flying in the air!

The cooler wetter weather last week is really getting some of the leaf diseases cranked up in wheat, specifically powdery mildew. And with a return of some southerly breezes, I think we can bet that we'll be seeing rust just explode before too long! Any fields that were planted early last fall and got a fair amount of growth may be exhibiting some Barley Yellow Dwarf. Nothing you can do but try to remember to plant around the fly free date. Back to powdery mildew. This is the stuff that looks like white cottony growth on the leaves, espeically the lower leaves. Sometimes it even looks like leaf rust but it's whitish gray instead of rusty color. If you feel that you have a high yield potential OR a high value field as in seed wheat, then given the forecast that is on the horizoan, Iwould seriously consider getting a fungicide application applied. Going in now will stop the powdery mildew from getting worse (both Jagger and Jagalene are susceptible to powdery mildew by the way!!) And the fungicide could give you a little bit of control of rust that is on it's way up, if not already here. Given the price of fertilizer I know that you don't want to spend another dime, but this may be the year that you can make a little money with a well timed fungicide application!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2004.

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