After weather service predicted lows of 34 degrees for Garden City on the morning of April 18th, much colder lows were encountered.  Late in the day on April 17th the skies cleared and the temperature plunged.  According to accuweather it only reached a low of 31 degrees in Garden City.  My thermometer showed 28 degrees.  Lows of 28 degrees were reported in Liberal, KS and lows of 24 degrees were recorded in Guymon, OK. 

Will these temperatures damage the wheat?

We've all been through this many times before and about all you can do immediately after a freeze is report the lows and evaluate the growth stage of the wheat.  In Garden City most of the wheat is at 1st node.  The growing point on the wheat is about 1 to 2 inches out of the crown.  In Guymon most of the wheat is at 2nd node.  Damage to wheat is a function of growth stage time and temperature.  In past years where late freezes have been an issue most occured at this same time or even a little earlier.  The most devastating ones occured for more than one night in a row.  The daytime highs between these nightly freezes were typically colder than what we went through today.  It will take at least a full week to evaluate the extent of damage if any.  Immediately after a freeze lower stem splits would already be visable.  I noticed none today in the Liberal area.  If head death occured it will take at least a week to evaluate.  The head can be found by splitting stems above the highest node.  After a week these heads will start to turn brown and shrivel.  A few days after that the whorls on dead tillers will start to push a dead leaf.

I tend to be a glass half full kind of person but just based on what we know today I would doubt very much that the wheat crop was damaged north of Liberal with the jury still out on the wheat in the Oklahoma panhandle.            

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