Time to Top-dress your Winter Wheat

The winter wheat crop looks like it is off to a good start for 2011, and as I write this the markets are looking good too. We have been fortunate that the snow cover has helped with winter survival. While we have had a few nights of colder weather since our snow melted, these dips do not seem to have caused any serious injury other than the normal leaf burn.


While the wheat in southern Wisconsin has started to break dormancy, the snow a couple weeks ago across central Wisconsin has slowed down the wheat progress compared to normal. Once this snow is off and temperatures warm, wheat in that region will begin greening up also. To tell if your wheat has broken dormancy, carefully wash the roots of a few wheat plants and look for new roots from the crown area of the plant. These roots will be snow white and may be very small, ¼ to ½ inch if the plant has just broken dormancy. Another way to tell that your wheat has broken dormancy is to look at the top two leaves of the plant. If you see a line across the leaves at the point where it was covered by the leaf sheath, it has broken dormancy. The area below the line is the new growth and will usually be a brighter or shiny green color compared to the upper portion of the leaf.

Now is the time to get that spring nitrogen on the wheat as the soil conditions permit. Rates should be based on yield goals for your farm and soil type. I usually like to use dry nitrogen to reduce leaf burn on the new emerging leaves. If you are using liquid nitrogen you will want to try to apply it in a band to reduce the amount of leaf surface that can be potentially injured from the application.

As you are checking for green up in the wheat, it’s a good time to look for the growth of any winter annual weeds that might need to be controlled before they get established and compete with the wheat crop. If you have questions on this or other topics, please contact you local Trelay DSM.

Frost Seeding

Frost seeding has been used for many years, but it is getting new attention in recent years with increased rotational grazing. It is a great way to improve hay or pasture yields or introduce new forage crops into an older, thinning stand. There are many advantages to frost seeding as opposed to tearing up and old stand and re-seeding. The list of advantages include reduced labor and energy, lower equipment investment, a shorter establishment period, and it is a great way to maintain productivity of permanent pastures or hay stands without problems with tillage or soil erosion in spring seeding.

There are a few keys to frost seeding

1) Seed to soil contact is very important for seed germination. One way to help this is to fall graze or clipped to expose the soil. Sod bound pastures are the most challenging because they usually have a thick layer of thatch that covers the soil.

2) Competition from established plants must be controlled. This can be controlled in pastures by grazing frequently in the spring and early summer, but remove livestock when it is down to two inch plant height to allow the light to get to the new seeding. Make sure not to clip lower that a couple inches or the new seeding will not have time to establish an adequate root system.

3) Seed selection and seeding rates. Red clover and birdsfoot trefoil are usually fairly easy to establish with frost seeding. Alfalfa, alsike clover, ladino clover, and white clover can also work well under proper management. One caution is to not seed alfalfa into an established older stand of alfalfa. Alfalfa roots produce autotoxicty that will prevent establishment of the new seeding.

4) Timing is important. For frost seeding to be successful, there must be alternating freeze and thaw cycles, along with spring rains to help incorporate the new seeding. Seeding on top of snow works if the snow is not deep and there is not much slope for water movement during a rapid thaw.

Frost seeding is a low cost way to improve productivity of older pastures or hay stands. Be sure to manage soil seed contact to improve germination of the new seeding. Limit competition of established stands to improve results. Select proper species and seeding rates for your field and situation. For more information on this or other questions click on the following link or call your local Trelay DSM.

Frost Seeding Legumes and Grasses

Assessing your alfalfa stands for winter injury

Now is the time to be looking at your alfalfa fields to make stand evaluations. Even though we had good snow cover this winter, it is still important to look at your fields this spring before you finalize your cropping decisions. By evaluating stands now you will be able to make decisions about what fields to save, what fields are getting thinner and need to be replaced next year, and what may need to be rotated to another crop this year.

The best way to evaluate your stand is to look at the above ground part of the plant first. Check to see how many shoots you have in a square foot, over 55 stems per square foot is ideal, 40-55 means yields may be reduced, and under 40 means the stand is poor and will need to be replaced. Look to see that the shoots are coming from all sides of the crown and not only one side, this would indicate some crown damage and you would want to dig up the roots to get a better look. Check for crowns that may have heaved up over winter or do not show any new shoot growth also.

Be sure to dig some roots of healthy looking plants and check to see that these crowns are healthy also. Healthy crowns and roots will look white to cream colored and will be firm. If the crowns are discolored or soft they may be infected with some root rot diseases that will limit production.

Talk to your Trelay DSM if you have questions or would like help in evaluating your alfalfa stands this spring to make sure you get the most from every acre that you farm. For more information on what to look for to evaluate your stand click on the link below.

Evaluating and Managing Alfalfa Stands for Winter Injury

Sifting Through Latest Glyphosate Info

Recently there has been increased buzz about alleged negative interactions of glyphosate with micronutrients and plant diseases. To date there are many sources of information about this topic in both scientific papers and the popular press. Bob Hartzler from Iowa State University has done a very thorough literature review and discussion of this topic that he presented at the 2010 ISU Integrated Crop Management Conference (Ames, IA). His conclusion from that presentation and the paper he presented were that although these interactions cannot be completely ruled out, there is no data to suggest that there is widespread negative impact on micronutrients or plant diseases.


Purdue University has also published a paper that discusses glyphosate’s impact on field crop production and disease development. In this paper by Purdue University they state “the claims that glyphosate is having a widespread effect on plant health are largely unsubstantiated.” They go on to state “Most importantly, the impact of these interactions on yield has not been demonstrated.” Based on the opinion of Iowa State University and Purdue University, we believe that there is no yield risk with using glyphosate for weed control in Roundup ready Crops. As always glyphosate should be used as part of an integrated pest management system when needed, be sure to follow all label directions when using these products. For more info on these articles, click on the links below.

Iowa State University
 
Purdue University