Wheat Conditions

Wheat remains in mostly poor to fair condition across southwest Kansas and the panhandles.  This past week saw much needed rain across most of the area but it is likely a case of too little too late.  Received amounts mostly ranged from .5" to 1.0" with isolated areas receiving more.  Growth stages range from fully headed in the south to boot in the north of the area.  We just went through two nights of below freezing temperatures with the second night (May 2nd) being the coldest.  Lows in Plains, Kansas and Guymon, Oklahoma reached 30 degrees and slightly colder.  Damage to the crop at this point are not known but will likely have only minor impacts.
Decisions on fungicide use need to be made over the next week to 10 days.  Factors for growers to consider when evaluating the economics of this input are:
1 - Yield Potential - Probably need to be 40 bu plus
2 - Variety - Resistance to Stripe and Leaf Rust
3 - Forecasted Weather - Wet / cool will be most favorable for disease development
4 - Disease Pressure in areas south of Kansas - At this point light or non existant
5 - Cost of control
Bottom Line - At this point it appears that 2011 will not be a rust year.  That of course can change over the next few weeks.  When deciding on likelyhood of a fungicide paying for itself yield potential is the most important factor.

Other Pests
Brown Wheat Mites have finally cycled out over much of the area.  Cherry Aphids continue to infest fields at low numbers with greenbugs started.  It is unlikely that either of these pests will reach thresholds for treatment but they are important in the spread of disease.
Barley Yellow Dwarf is starting to show up in many fields with Wheat Streak Mosaic pressure much less than we would normally see.

Corn Conditions

Getting corn stands has been a struggle due to cold soil temperatures.  Residue from the previous crop has also caused a lot of problems in achieving stands.  The extremely dry winter has contributed to this problem.  With dry weather residue decomposition did not occur and we went into planting with much higher levels of residue.  Wind damage has also been a problem with residue drifts occuring in many fields causing problems for the planters and proper seed placement.  The freeze that occured on May 2nd has caused severe leaf damage to emerged corn.  This will have no impact on plant stands and the affected corn will easily recover.   
 

Wheat Conditions

Wheat in the Oklahoma Panhandle and Southwest Kansas continues in mostly poor condition.  This area is still very short on moisture with yield prospects on average well below 30 bu.  Much of this geography has had about 1 inch total moisture since November 2010.  The wheat crop is starting to joint and this is the growth stage where head size for the wheat plant is determined.  I would still expect that most of this wheat will be harvested, even with yield prospects as low as 10 bu in some cases.  The early planted wheat has aborted tillers with many fields having surviving counts in the range of 5 to 10 tillers per foot of row.  This likely means yields coming in at no better than 20 bu.   The later wheat has not lost tillers but had fewer to start with and it appears that it also will not yield much better than 20 bu on average.  

Currently have Brown Wheat Mites in many moisture stressed fields with moderate leaf damage occuring.  This is a winter pest and they should begin cycling out for the season over the next couple of weeks.  Also have low Cherry Aphid numbers with Greenbugs getting started as well.  Have not seen either of these aphids at levels that would require treatment.  At this time there are no serious foliar leaf diseases.   

Wheat Conditions

Dryland wheat across southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle is in mostly poor condition.  There is no reason today to believe the yield potential is any better than 25 bushels.  There are two different scenarios with this crop and it relates to planting date.  Early planted wheat had the soil moisture to achieve a decent stand but with warm fall temperatures it depleted the profile prior to winter dormancy.  These fields are still viable but are starting to abort tillers now and have no soil moisture reserves as the wheat starts to green up.  The more common situation is fields that were planted in late September to late October.  By then the soil moisture was marginal and most of these fields have very spotty stands.  They also lag in tiller and root development.  As many as 15% of these fields don't even have an adequate stand to take to harvest.  A bigger concern will be wind damage as we go through March and into April.  Ground cover is poor and it appears these fields have the potential to blow.  The only significant pest concern is Cherry Aphids.  Most fields have at least low numbers of this insect and would expect them to increase over the next month.  This aphid is less a threat from the standpoint of feeding damage and more a threat in the spread of Barley Yellow Dwarf disease.  It probably makes sense to knock them out with a low rate of Lorsban if the field is already being sprayed for weeds or topdressed with nitrogen.