Air June 2, 2004

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone.

The first topic this morning has to be the announcements late last week of a mystery virus attacking wheat in Kansas. To be right honest, when the story broke was the first that I'd heard anything about it also. Our K-State pathologists in Manhattan hadn't communicated anything with us yet and we're still waiting to hear. Have I seen anything unusual in area fields. No, to be right honest I haven't. And it's going to be tough to pull anything out right now with leaf rust exploding all over the place. It's nothing to worry about right now, and maybe by the time harvest gets over, we'll have an idea of where we are with this mystery disease.

Speaking of wheat harvest, it isn't too far away. Fields are turning fast now and unless we get a lot of rain soon, there's not going to be much to stop it. Which means that even though you may be trying to finish up planting, you need to be getting equipment ready for harvest. Now I'm not just talking about mechanically ready, I'm talking about sanitation. If you don't store any wheat on farm, it does make your life easier. Then all you have to do is clean out the combine, wagons and truck. But if you have on farm grain storage, then it becomes even more critical to get everything cleaned up before putting grain in storage. Okay, why do we put such an emphasis on sanitation. One word - bugs. Most insect infestation comes from existing problems. If you put clean grain in a buggy bin, you are going to have problems in a hurry. And with the summertime temperatures that we see in those bins, they are going to reproduce in a hurry. Start at the combine and clean everything that the grain is going to pass through or touch. Vacuum, broom, sometimes even a power sprayer may be in order, but get all that old grain and grain by-products cleaned up! Then treat storage facilities with a surface spray labeled for wheat, or whatever grain you are storing. Malathion was long the standard premise spray, but the past decade has turned several other excellent products on to the market. And if you are going to be storing grain for several months, even just until planting time, consider treating the grain as it goes into storage. Starting with clean grain is only half the battle, keep it clean all the way through the system!

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

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