The wheat continues to develop very slowly over the past month.  Dry areas still do not have complete stands and just based on the length of time it is taking for emergence, I would expect final stands in these fields will be less than ideal.  I am not seeing any winter kill yet.  Most areas still have adequate surface moisture and this should take us well into March before additional stress to the crop will occur. 

Winter annual weed pressure is increasing in most fields and it will still make sense to use short residual herbicides with topdress applications.  In most cases I would recommend using Dicamba with 2,4-D or MCP.  In fields where tiller formation is still continuing, MCP with Dicamba would be the safest choice.  This will allow you to keep your rotation options totally open and should still give clean fields at wheat harvest time.  I would keep the rate of Dicamba at 4 oz to insure adequate residual control on kochia. Typically Dicamba is not thought of as a residual herbicide but during the winter months, 4 to 6 weeks control likely occurs.  In all cases the Dicamba must be mixed with either 2,4-D or MCP.  Typically 10 to 12 oz of 4lb 2,4-D or MCP would be mixed with the Dicamba.  Dicamba must be applied prior to jointing while 2,4-D should not be used until at least 3 to 4 tillers have formed.  If tiller formation is delayed, MCP would be the safest choice.  Both products should give similar performance on weeds.  The herbicides can be mixed with topdress fertilizer but as these herbicides are growth regulators, applications should only be made on days where the high temperature is expected to exceed 40 degrees.

Some of the fungicide manufacturers are encouraging topdress timed applications of their products.  This only makes sense in continuous wheat production where Tan Spot disease will likely be a significant threat to the crop.  On rotated wheat ground, the fungicide applications need to be delayed until closer to flag leaf emergence.  More discussion will follow in future posts to this blog.  

Insect pest problems are still minimal.  The only issues are low levels of Cherry Aphids in some of the earlier planted wheat.