Air July 13 - 19, 2006
Seed Wheat Issues
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I recently talked about seed wheat quality and seed source selection. I want to continue that discussion today. Earlier this month it became apparent that common bunt was showing up at a much higher rate than we would normally expect and this seemed to be centered in north central Kansas, not that far from our area. Common bunt is one of those diseases that affect the developing wheat kernels. Bunt does not cause that much of a yield loss normally, but as little as 1% bunted kernels can create a very distinct fishy odor to the wheat. Not a desirable thing to have happen. Bunt is a seed borne disease that is easily taken care of with seed treatments at planting. If you start using year after year of bin run seed, without treating, you can develop quite a problem. So that brings us around to the second topic - seed source. We’ve been talking about this annually for several years. You are allowed to keep wheat seed back for replanting, unless you have a new variety that has a growers agreement. However, all of the wheat varieties, both public and private, are protected by plant variety protection laws. You can not sell, trade, give or barter seed wheat to anyone else UNLESS you are an authorized seed dealer for that variety. Not only is this illegal, involving either state and/or federal laws, but it can wind up hurting your yield. Yield reductions of 2 to 5 bushels per acre are not uncommon when using bin run vs certified seed. This year, that would have been a 9 to 23 dollar reduction in gross production. Only buy certified seed from an authorized dealer! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Weed Control in Wheat Stubble
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. While we may still not be getting as much rain as we’d like, we’ve certainly been lucky to get what we have, and the wheat stubble fields are really starting to show it. The golden tan of many a post harvest field is starting to become predominantly green. If you are going to go back into wheat in these fields, I would get out there in the next week or so and get those weeds burned down to help conserve that precious soil moisture. Who knows, we may wind up with a wet August and September, but I would not depend on that and would try to protect the soil moisture that’s out there. Bindweed is also going to be growing good right now so you can put some hurt on that. I would not be using straight glyphosate. I would include it to control volunteer wheat and other grassy weeds that would harbor wheat curl mites (and wheat streak mosaic), but I would also have a broadleaf herbicide in there as well. This will enhance broadleaf control, especially of bindweed, but it will also reduce the pressure on broadleaf weed populations helping reduce the risk of developing roundup resistant weeds. At the very least I would be adding a pint or 2 of 2,4-D or a quarter to a half pint of dicamba to the glyphosate. We’re a long ways off of wheat planting yet, but be sure to allow 2 weeks and a half inch of rain before planting if using 2,4-D or 45 days after application of dicamba. If you have a lot of volunteer wheat you will probably want to up the rate of that glyphosate since volunteer wheat can be tough to kill sometimes. Tordon can be used if you have bindweed problems - allow 45 to 60 days after application before wheat planting. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
Market Outlooks
This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. If there is one thing I always despise talking about, it’s market predictions. It ranks right up there behind yield predictions. But it won’t STOP me from talking about either one!! The winter wheat crop is pretty well known now as harvest winds down. Spring wheat seems to be deteriorating so that’s probably going to continue to provide support to the wheat prices. Additionally, it was just announced that global wheat stocks are at a 25 year low. Southern hemisphere production is not looking real rosy right now with planting time droughts in Australia and Argentina - but we all know how that wheat crop can be! So the bottom line is, if you haven’t sold your ‘06 wheat crop yet the price will probably remain strong for several months. Will it hold until January? I don’t know and a lot of the prognosticators that I’m listening to don’t seem to know either, because they are recommending moving most of the current year’s crop in the next couple of months. But don’t stop there. You’ve probably got a pretty good chance to price part of your ‘07 and ‘08 crops as well. There’s a lot of folks out there that can help you do it - so consider it! As for the corn and soybean market outlooks, everybody is uncertain. It really depends on the weather between now and August 15th through the corn belt. Even under a best case scenario, for corn production, there will continue to be strong demand for corn from ethanol and exports. If dry weather continues, expect some real price jumps and be ready to price some of your fall harvest! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I’m Chuck Otte.
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