Two years after draught conditions put a strangle hold on Missouri’s agricultural producers’ crops, one would believe smoother sailing would prevail. However, the 2015 Barton County Wheat Tour held a University of Missouri wheat test site on David Shear’s farm near Lamar, Mo., highlighted new issues with an army of old nemeses.
“This year weeds would be a good topic, because that’s what is important in a lot of people’s minds,” noted Jill Scheidt, Barton County’s MU Extension agronomist. “We’ve had a lot of weeds coming up in the county that are hard to control so that’s why I thought it would be good for weed control to be the main topic.”
Last year MU’s Extension Service hosted many weed workshops, which did their job by putting producers wise to controlling problem weeds like thistle. Unfortunately, some of the more subtle threats like weed grasses have slipped through the cracks to create a new set of issues.
“For the most part we’ve had pretty good weed control in out wheat crop this year. Probably the number one issue has been grasses that have escaped our applications or have never been treated for them,” Kevin Bradley, the state weed specialist explained. “Grasses like cheat and downy brome along with broadleaf weeds have been the biggest weed issues this year.”
Rye grass and its herbicide resistant cousin cereal rye were also in the forefront of this year’s issues. The tour brought agriculturalists like Brad Andrews of Orogono, Mo., up to speed. “I work as an agronomist, advising farmers on when to spray the weeds, what products to use and what varieties of wheat to plant,” he said. “Kevin Bradley’s talk was really helpful. It was by letting me know there isn’t a product that works on the cereal rye grass that grows in wheat. For the annual rye there is, but the cereal rye there isn’t.”
Bradley presented step-by-step information from a list of herbicides from the “2015 Missouri Pest Management” publication that have activity against grass weeds.
“There’s three or four that come to the top of the list and that’s what producers are looking for is to get those recommendations,” he said.
Though it has not become a major threat, Bradley warned producers attending the tour to be on the lookout for palmer amaranth.
“Amaranth is a type of pigweed without the hairy stems found on other pigweeds,” he said. “It has been found in a few areas around the state. One way to protect against infestation is to watch where you import hay and other feeds as they may carry palmer amaranth seeds.”
Identification of weeds is one very important part of prevention of widespread infestations. Scheidt encouraged producers to bring in a sample of suspect plants to their local extension office for assistance on discovering its identity.
“There’s a lot of new weeds coming up and if you don’t know how to identify them you won’t be able to control them correctly then all of the sudden they become a problem,” she said. “It’s important to be able to identify your weeds to know what they are.”
Lamar, Mo., producer Jack Stahl’s opinion of this year’s wheat tour reflected the majority of those present.
“I think it’s good to review, because there are so many things to keep up with and you can forget about some things. There’s a chance to learn about some new product that you’ve not heard about.”
Andrews also noted during the tour this year’s wet weather has created a new set of problems for wheat producers. “Disease has been at it’s been worst, because of all the rain we’ve had,” he said. “We’re seeing head scab, the pink colored kernels that can make the wheat unmarketable if it’s bad enough.”
In a press release shortly after the tour, Scheidt commented on the problem. She warned, “Foliage diseases due to prolonged moisture on leaves might reduce wheat yield if a fungicide was not applied to protect the flag leaf, as it accounts for 75 percent of grain fill. Fusarium head scab, encouraged by warm, humid weather during flowering, is present in many wheat fields, identified by a pinkish fungus on kernels, and contaminated grain may be discounted at the grain elevator.
Additional information on weed issues, identification and more may be found by pointing your web browser to http://weedscience.missouri.edu/
