Wheat Pete’s Word, June 26: Snorkelling oats, rapid growth syndrome, and a plan for fusarium

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Last week’s intense heat and humidity across much of Ontario had significant impacts on several crops, some of them good, some of them not so good.

Heat-loving crops, such as corn, had a rip-roaring week, blasting through leaf stages, however any spring cereals in the flowering stage or crops with poor root growth suffered in the heat.

In this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word, host Peter Johnson also has an alert for all wheat growers — fusarium is out there, it is bad, and it will require being absolutely on top of timely harvest, especially in lodged fields. Plus, hear about avoiding fleabane seedset, why rapid growth syndrome (photo above) is going to be OK, what plants handle standing water best, and the value of straw.

Summary:

  • The beast is back: Fusarium in the wheat crop
  • If you’re in a rain zone, you’re barely keeping your head above water
  • Flash deluges, too — Six inches of water in under an hour
  • Hay has been hit hard
  • NE Nebraska got 21″ of rain in three days
  • But, there are some AMAZING crops in Ontario
  • How long can drowning plants live? It depends on the plant matter above water and plant type
  • Corn was adding a leaf every 3 days, every 2.5 days, in the heat wave we had
  • You could HEAR the corn grow
  • On the wheat front, the heat was not good
  • Yield potential is still high, don’t get discouraged
  • Some wheat harvest has begun, a week to two weeks ahead
  • That extreme heat definitely hit the cool cereals (oats, barley, wheat) at flowering
  • New herbicide, a Group 12, registered for corn and beans this year
  • What are these patterns …angle where the disc ripper ran
  • Residue spread is so important. Is it a carbon penalty?
  • Where residue doubles up, there are soil impacts, including N tie-up, but also temperature differences
  • Rapid growth syndrome looks bad, but it’ll be OK
  • Why do crops look so great after wheat? Soil structure, better internal drainage, and adding a fall-seeded crop helps with weed control
  • Fleabane in the wheat crop (where a pass was missed) — DO NOT LET IT GO TO SEED. Control post-harvest. Can spray with MCPA-ester, .5 litre per acre should stop seed set, but won’t kill them
  • ALERT! The ugly beast of fusarium
  • Not 1996 levels, but in places likely as bed
  • Get out and scout, heading date matters
  • Early headed-out crops have less infection
  • Late-headed, just a week difference, got hammered
  • Lodged wheat may have way higher DON levels, it’s a moisture thing
  • Straw value? Both cents per pound and nutrient levels.
  • Check out the Agronomy Guide for wheat here
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Wheat Pete's Word (view all) Season 10 (2024) Episode 26
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