Are There Gaps in Your Wheat Plan?

Seed treatments paired with properly timed herbicide and fungicide applications should be high priorities for managing your winter wheat crop, according to T.J. Binns, Syngenta agronomic service representative in west central Kansas. Consistency is the key for a successful season, which pays off for those who don’t drastically change their plans based on early-season weather.

“In ’23 – ‘24, the winter was extremely dry, so a lot of people gave up on the crop,” Binns says, noting that some growers didn’t put down any herbicide or fertilizer, believing it was futile because the crop was going to fail. But, as grain fill came in, rain and cool temperatures did, too.

“Then the problem these growers faced is that they had thin wheat and no herbicide,” he says. “We ended up with some weedy messes out there; they were doing a preharvest treatment to get the weeds burned down below the head so they could harvest.”

The lack of winter herbicide also topped-up the weed seed bank, a liability for growers who plant their wheat stubble back to corn and milo in the spring.

Be Nimble Without Dropping Your Weed Control

In the southern U.S. wheat belt, weather is a big variable. Likely scenarios should be included in growers’ crop plans, Binns says.

“When making a plan around weather, I suggest growers make a best-case, likely-case and worst-case scenario — for example, if it rains a lot, rains an average amount, or doesn’t rain at all — then think through how they can adapt and still be successful,” Binns says. Through every scenario, weed control is a must, he notes.

“Even if it doesn’t rain, weed control is important for this season and for all following crops,” he says. “Think through it and make the application at the correct time, instead of being reactive to weather.”

Axial^® Star herbicide controls both annual grass and broadleaf weeds in spring wheat, winter wheat and barley, and provides rotational flexibility the following season. Axial Bold herbicide delivers improved consistency and broad-spectrum control of top grass weeds including wild oat, yellow foxtail, Italian ryegrass, green foxtail and barnyard grass.

Don’t Let Excessive Moisture Rot Your Wheat

Healthy roots are the key to fighting insect and disease pressure in the soil and producing more foliage above ground. However, moisture and temperature make the roots vulnerable to rot just as they’re getting established. Protection against fungal diseases should be top of mind, which is why CruiserMaxx^® Vibrance^® Cereals seed treatment is available for protection from early-season pests, including Fusarium rot.

“That’s what the seed treatments are there for — to prevent those diseases from infecting the plant early on,” Binns says.

Once the plants are up, stripe rust and Fusarium head blight (FHB) are a fungal-disease duo that requires targeted fungicides and two different application timings within roughly ten days. Stripe rust comes first, blown in from warmer climates, producing spores that embed in the plant’s leaves and inhibit photosynthesis. Spraying for rust at flag leaf is the goal.

“If you lose your flag leaf, you’re losing a lot of your photosynthetic ability to fill the head,” Binns says. For stripe rust, he recommends Trivapro^® fungicide for its preventive and curative protection and long-lasting residual control.

FHB is the most economically devastating wheat disease in the U.S. and Canada according to the Crop Protection Network, in part because the inoculum is already present in field residue.

“Fusarium head blight infects the crop later, while the wheat is blooming,” Binns says, noting that free moisture, whether rain or heavy dew, is what introduces the fungus to the grain head. “That’s why a preventive application is really important, because if you wait until you see it, you’re already infected and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Miravis^® Ace fungicide is Binns’ choice against FHB thanks to its active ingredient ADEPIDYN^® technology. Miravis Ace offers long-lasting disease control to protect even the tillers that haven’t flowered yet, and it delivers plant-health benefits that support improved grain quality and increased potential yield long after spraying.

In addition to a tricky climate and significant disease pressure, growers in many western states are contending with kochia, a persistent and increasingly resistant weed. Binns says Talinor^® herbicide is a good postemergence option later in the season. Talinor is also an ideal mix partner with Axial brand herbicides for one-pass grass and broadleaf weed control and can be applied from the crop’s two-leaf to pre-boot stage.

Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan

Overall, Binns advises wheat growers to make a plan and stick to it, even if conditions aren’t optimal. And if conditions become extreme, review the scenarios in your plan.

“Last year, the growers who treated their crop like they normally would did very, very well with yield,” he says. “The most important thing is to not panic. Proper planning and assorted crop protection products will get you through.”