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.