SDSU Extension wheat walks provide information

SDSU Extension held a series of Wheat Walks June 11 and 12 near Delmont, Ideal, Dakota Lakes Research Farm and Gettysburg. These events were partially funded by the South Dakota Wheat Commission, with contributions from Agland Coop, Winner Seed, Simplot Soil Builders, Country Pride Coop, AgriPro Wheat and Northern Plains Coop. Farm Credit of Pierre also attended one of the walks and provided refreshments.

Altogether, approximately 80 producers, agronomists, crop consultants and chemical representatives attended the events and gained information on wheat production. SDSU Extension Specialists contributing to the program included Nathan Mueller, Extension Agronomist, Ruth Beck, Agronomy Field Specialist, Emmanuel Byamukama, Extension Plant Pathologist, Bob Fanning, Plant Pathology Field Specialist, Connie Strunk, Plant Pathology Field Specialist, Ada Szczepaniec, Extension Entomologist, Ron Gelderman, Extension Soils Specialist, Darrell Deneke, IPM Coordinator, and Mark Rosenberg, Weeds Field Specialist. Dwayne Beck, Manager of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm, hosted the event at that location, and Randy Englund, Executive Director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission attended each of the walks and provided a report from the Wheat Commission. Clair Stymiest from AgriPro Wheat attended the walk at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm and provided information on the AgriPro program and the varieties they have to offer.

Attendees received a wealth of information from the Extension personnel and others involved, were provided with a large offering of handout material, and given the opportunity to interact with the specialists present to get their questions answered.

While a large number of winter wheat acres were abandoned in the spring of 2013, spring rains transformed the remaining fields, and the majority of spring wheat fields into respectable condition. Emmanuel Byamukama found low levels of tanspot in the fields visited, and reported that while both leaf and stripe rust have been found in Nebraska, they had yet to move north and have not been reported in South Dakota. Producers will want to be on the lookout for rust and can visit the Cereal Disease Laboratory website (http://

1.usa.gov/JL3RMP) to monitor its progress. Growers who have wheat planted into corn, wheat, grain sorghum or millet residue will also want to monitor their risk for scab, and can periodically visit the Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Center: http://www.wheatscab.psu.edu/ to do so. A few fields near where the wheat walks were held had some level of wheat streak mosaic virus.

Cutworms had not posed a problem for winter wheat in 2013, aphids were currently present but in low numbers, and the grasshopper risk for this year is low to moderate. Research trials are also being conducted to evaluate various new fertility products that have come on the market in recent years such as ESN. The big issue in the weeds area is herbicide resistance and the efforts being directed to develop control options.

For the next opportunity to gain information on wheat production, igrow.org and watch for upcoming crop tours across the state.