Fusarium Head Blight Alerts Available

If you are interested in receiving real-time alerts for Fusarium head blight updates or field reports, the U.S. Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative is offering a free subscription service in 2010. To sign up for these alerts, please click here. The alerts are a summary of commentary made by wheat disease specialists throughout the country as part of the Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Center. You can receive alerts in email and/or text message form. You can also sign up for different types of reports, whether just a national summary or specific regions. For example, if you just want to see a summary from Wisconsin and the corresponding soft winter wheat region, you should mark the "Mid West/Northern Region, Soft Winter Wheat".

If you have any questions about this service, please free to contact me.

Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Online for 2010

The Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Center is again up and running for the 2010 wheat growing season. I will be providing commentary on this site for Wisconsin similar to the previous growing seasons and this commentary often focuses on observations of all diseases we have noted around the state, and more importantly the current range of growth stages we have observed. Also, the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative will be providing resources to help in communicating the current risk and situation across the wheat growing region. Some additional resources that may be of help as you access this site as well as determine the need for foliar fungicides for control of Fusarium head scab include:

1) Understanding the Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Center

2) Check Your Wheat Closely

Feel free to contact us with any questions and we will provide further updates as the conditions warrant.

Management of Small Grains - Fungicide Efficacy for Control of Wheat Diseases, Updated

We have been receiving several questions about the use of foliar fungicides for wheat. To provide further information regarding relative efficacy of foliar fungicides in wheat, the NCERA 184 (North Central Regional Committee on Management of Small Grain Diseases) recently updated their information of fungicide efficacy for control of certain foliar diseases of wheat. Efficacy ratings were based on field testing of materials over multiple years and locations by members of the committee. Efficacy is based on proper application timing to achieve optimum effectiveness of the fungicide as determined by labeled instructions and overall level of disease in the field at the time of application. Differences in efficacy among fungicide products were determined by direct comparisons among products in field tests and are based on a single application of the labeled rate as listed in the table. The Table lists the most widely marketed labeled products and is not intended to be a list of all products. The information in the table is provided only as a guide and does not provide an endorsement for any product.

Any questions about the table can be addressed to Paul: esker@wisc.edu

Early Season Wheat Diseases

Winter wheat in Wisconsin is looking very good across the majority of our field trials. In some of these trials, we are already at the Feekes 4 (Zadoks 30, pseudostem erection) growth stage. This week, it was noted that there is some evidence of powdery mildew (see photos below courtesy of John Gaska) in some of these trials. This is an important period for some early-season management decisions (not just for foliar fungicides also). Specifically for decisions for disease management, it really starts with knowledge of the relative susceptibility of your wheat variety against powdery mildew. With that knowledge, a second step is to then determine how severe and where in the wheat canopy are symptoms of powdery mildew being noted. At Feekes 4-5, the recommendation for the use of a foliar fungicide is based on the appearance of symptoms of powdery mildew on the newest (i.e., upper) leaf. Scouting by examining approximately 100 leaves in a field from different locations. Assess the severity for each leaf by counting the number of powdery mildew pustules. If the average number of pustules is 10 or greater, this may indicate the need for use of a foliar fungicide. In most years, we often see symptoms of powdery mildew in the wheat canopy, but typically only in the lower canopy due to the microclimate and varietal differences. Disease management decisions at these earlier growth stages need to take into account the assessment of the most appropriate leaf material that may impact the flag leaf later in the growing season.

Photos from Arlington, WI (Courtesy of John Gaska, Dept. Agronomy). Notice that the primary location of symptoms are in the lower canopy. As discussed earlier, guidelines for the use of foliar fungicides are based on examination of the uppermost leaf.

WSMB Offers Free Soybean Cyst Nematode Testing

The UW-Madison Agronomy Department, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board, is again offering free soybean cyst nematode (SCN) soil testing for Wisconsin growers. This program is intended for growers to sample several of their fields in order to identify if SCN is present and at what levels. Growers will be responsible for collecting soil from fields suspected to have SCN and then sending the sample to the SCN testing laboratory for analysis. They will receive a lab report back with the SCN egg count and a brochure to help plan future rotations and other cultural practices to lower SCN infestation if they exist.

We have a limited number of these free kits available and will furnish them on a first come - first served basis at up to four per farm. Crop consultants, advisors, and crop input retailers are encouraged to request kits for their client’s farms. Each kit has a bag and a prepaid mailer for one soil sample, which should represent about 10-15 acres. Both the postage and lab fees are prepaid ($50 value). Anytime before, during, or right after the growing season are great times to collect soil samples for routine soil fertility analysis and for SCN monitoring.

Soil sample test kits are available now and can be requested from Amy Cottom at agcottom@wisc.edu or at 608-262-1390.

For more information on SCN testing and management practices to help reduce the losses from this pest, please contact: Shawn Conley: spconley@wisc.edu; 608-262-7975

Early Spring Management of Late Planted Winter Wheat

Late soybean and field corn harvest caused a significant drop in WI winter wheat acres in 2010. Many growers, including myself, still decided to move forward with late winter wheat plantings. To answer late-planted wheat questions we published the following article on November 23rd 2009.

Late Planted Winter Wheat: Growing Slowly But Surely

As with many growers we had a difficult time getting all of our winter wheat planted in the "Optimal" planting date window in 2009. A significant number of winter wheat acres across Wisconsin were planted under the full knowledge of reduced crop insurance coverage as well as reduced yield. Given that the 10-day weather outlook calls for reduced temperatures as well as potential flurries I was interested in the "state" of our November 13th planted winter wheat in Janesville WI. In Image 1. we see that the radicle, seminal roots, and coleoptile have all emerged. In wheat the radicle and seminal roots will be the first structures to appear. Only after the seminal roots and radicle begin to imbibe water will the coleoptile begin to elongate.

Image 1. Wheat development 10 days after planting (November 13th planting date).

For those winter wheat acres that were planted in the last few days remember that winter wheat will vernalize once the radicle emerges from the seed as fall growth will continue as temperatures fall to zero. Literature referenced: R.J. Cook and R.J. V

Today (3/18/10) I revisited our Janesville winter wheat site that was planted on Friday November 13th 2009. The wheat crop has emerged relatively uniformly and appears to have made it through the winter with very little crop loss (Image 2).


At this juncture the most critical decision facing growers is "Do I invest money into this crop?" Though I have no data that directly mimics this years situation we can use our 2009 planting date study as a starting point. In Figure 1 below we see that our late planted wheat (planted Oct 17th) suffered a 28% yield loss when compared to our early planted wheat (planted Sept 18th). Though our 2010 crop was planted 27 days later than the 2009 data what we can guesstimate is that your late planted wheat will likely yield at least 28% less than normal production levels. So your decision is "Can I still make money off of a wheat crop that is expected to yield ~30% less than normal production levels." If the answer to that question is yes than it is critical to get across that wheat as quickly as possible with an early N application to stimulate tiller formation. It will also be important to scout early and often as weeds will likely be a greater issue in 2010 than in "normal" years.

2010 Winter Wheat Workshops

The 2010 Winter Wheat Workshops are slated for March 18, 24, and 26. The attached flyer provides specific contact information for each location, but the March 18 meeting will occur in Rockford, IL, as a joint program with the University of Illinois. On March 24, the workshops will be Brant and on March 26 in Holman. General topics include wheat growth staging, disease and insect diagnostics, and nitrogen and herbicide management. Continuing education credits in crop and pest management will be requested. For specific registration information and fees, please contact the local UW-Extension site contact. Funding for this workshop is from the USDA-North Central Integrated Pest Management program with additional support from Partners in Production, Bayer Crop Science, BASF, and Syngenta. For general program information, please contact Paul @ esker@wisc.edu or 608-890-1999.