By Darren Hefty

As wheat planting approaches in your area, here is the “To Do” list in the pursuit of higher yields and profits.

  1. Eliminate the Green Bridge.  If you visited the Ag PhD Field Day this year, you probably noticed the handy work of the wheat curl mite.  If you are going to plant wheat (or any susceptible crop or plant species) the best way to avoid an infestation of wheat curl mites is to wipe out all plant growth in your fields that can support the mites for at least 2 weeks before planting.  The mites need a living host.  Without that, they cannot survive.
  2. Seed Treatment.  Cutting costs is sometimes a great thing, but it is not any good at all if the thing you cut was making you money.  If you don’t treat your wheat seed, there’s no way to protect it from seed and seedling diseases.  Over a period of time on your farm, the odds are very high that on average, a seed treatment is a great investment.  Many of the new seed treatment packages have multiple modes of action of fungicide along with an insecticide to knock out wireworms and other seed attacking pests.  The best part is they may cost only one bushel or less of wheat, and they could easily pay you back many times over.
  3. Pre-emerge Herbicide.  You may not normally use a pre in front of wheat, but we encourage you to try at least a few acres and then look at the return on investment.  Say you use Pre-Pare and spend as little as $3.50.  Having great early weed control often gains you a few bushels.  In the drier areas this may be even more important as weed competition robs nutrients and WATER from your crop.  There are several really good products to choose from including Sharpen, Pre-Pare, and Olympus.  Also, look at the residual control you can get from a properly timed Zidua application, which gives you a new mode of action for grass control in wheat.
  4. Winter Annual Control.  If your pre doesn’t kill all the cheatgrass or other winter annual weeds, a fall post-emerge treatment is the next best thing.  PowerFlex, Olympus, Outrider, and others fit the bill here.  If you wait till spring, expect suppression at best.
  5. Fall Fungicide.  Farmers are noting better winter survival, improved early season growth in the spring, and less disease pressure where fall fungicides are being applied.  What will the payback be for you?  It’s hard to tell exactly, but this practice is showing enough promise to warrant trying a few strips in a number of fields to see for yourself.

The keys to a profitable crop next summer start right now as you get winter wheat established.  Begin by eliminating the green bridge to avoid problems.  Then consider the other items on the “To Do” list or make a list of your own, taking into account the return on such investments in your wheat.