The rallying cry of “harvest the wheat ASAP!” makes sense in light of heavy fusarium levels, seeing as the fungus continues to grow and cause damage even on mature wheat. But for those looking at a glyphosate application ahead of harvest, going in too early could mean glyphosate being translocated to the wheat kernels and that’s a big no-no.
This year, making the call on when to pre-harvest is further complicated by a mess of late tillers that may have only finished flowering last week. Do you wait for those late tillers, or do you spray, wait and blow those immature kernels out the back of the combine?
Related: What’s the risk of a too-early glyphosate application?
In the Wheat School below, Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture agronomist and wheat expert, shows us what you’re looking for in the wheat crop to gauge what’s known as physiological maturity on 85% of the wheat heads. To get there, we need to look at the crop’s peduncle, and if you don’t know what that is — check out the video below.
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