Hail-Damaged Wheat Fields Can Create Future Problems

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MANHATTAN, Kan. - This summer´s hail-damaged wheat can easily lead to problems in fall with volunteer wheat, insects and wheat streak mosaic, said Jim Shroyer, Kansas State University agronomist. "Where wheat has suffered hail damage, many of the kernels will shatter and eventually emerge as volunteer wheat. Shattering may continue to occur right up through harvest," Shroyer said. As an early source of volunteer wheat, the shattered kernels can create a perfect "green bridge" for wheat curl mites, said Erick DeWolf, K-State Research and Extension plant pathologist. "To thrive, wheat curl mites need green plant tissue. So, they begin to migrate off wheat as it dries down at or near harvesttime," he said. "If those mites can´t find new green plants to live on, they eventually die. But if young volunteer wheat stands are already present - which is possible on hailed fields - the curl mites move onto those plants, live through the summer, and then move onto fields of wheat planted this fall." Controlling volunteer wheat completely is important, Shroyer said. This is especially true on fields where volunteer wheat emerges early and is present at or shortly after harvest. That is the most threatening scenario for wheat streak mosaic infections to occur on planted wheat in fall. The agronomist warned that volunteer wheat also can lead to Hessian fly problems. Producers should closely monitor hail-damaged fields this summer, Shroyer said, and make sure all volunteer wheat is completely dead at least two weeks before planting wheat this fall. More information about controlling volunteer wheat is available at county and district K-State Research and Extension offices or on the Web in the publication "Be a Good Neighbor: Control Your Volunteer Wheat." (Go to http://www.oznet.ksu.edu and search for publication MF- 1004.)