What’s Up This Wheat? March 25-31

Figure 1. Eastern Nebraska winter wheat growing region in yellow.

I will be writing a new blog post series this year called “What’s Up This Wheat (Week)?” It will highlight weekly resources for growing winter wheat in Eastern Nebraska. Check out Figure 1 above showing the western, central, and eastern growing regions in Nebraska. This is part of my local Winter Wheat Works Initiative, which also includes a permanent page on this blog site at Winter Wheat Cafe. Check out the information below for the What’s Up this Wheat?

Weather

• Nebraska Drought Monitor for March 29: Nuckolls County under moderate drought and other portions of southeast NE are abnormally dry.
• Understanding Freeze Injury to Nebraska Wheat: Spring freeze this weekend, but don’t be concerned as wheat is tillering, 12 degrees for 2 hours needed to cause damage. 

Highlights

• Nebraska Farmer Magazine: Giving Wheat a Whirl in Eastern Nebraska: Highlights some wheat growers north of the Platte River

Economics

• USDA 2018 Nebraska Winter Wheat Seedings
• USDA March 2018 Nebraska Grain Stocks

Agronomics

• Market Journal Video: Scouting for Wheat Diseases with Stephen Wegulo: Watch this quick 4-minute video on scouting diseases in April
• CropWatch: Controlling Weeds in and Fertilizing Winter Wheat, Particularly Late-Seeded Fields: Get nitrogen on late-planted wheat ASAP

Tips

• Wheat fields sampled in Dodge and Washington counties this fall came back low (1-4 ppm) in chloride in the 0-2 ft soil test (https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2570.pdf). Chloride promotes plant health and disease suppression in wheat. Kansas State has shown an 8% yield increase in central and eastern Kansas with just 20 lbs of chloride applied per acre.  An early spring application of potash (44 lbs/ac) or ammonium chloride (31 lbs/ac) added to you top-dress dry nitrogen application is an effective method and timing.