As we all know, there are at least three false starts to spring in Minnesota each year. Contrast this with the desire/need to seed spring wheat, barley, and oats as early as possible, and it may feel like you have a disaster waiting to happen. This spring has not been an exception. The first small grains in southern Minnesota went into the ground when the calendar was still in March. The weather forecast at the time predicted a return of cooler, wetter weather with some overnight frost in the mid-twenties. My project seeded trials in Becker and LeCenter on March 31st in ideal conditions, only to have it snow and sleet two days later and, more worrisome, have the temperature plummet to 12 degrees Fahrenheit six days later. Not ideal.
Did it, however, kill the germination seed? I was back to both locations last Friday and found that no harm had come from the return to winter in the first week of April. I dug up seed and found no rotting seed; instead, every single seed showed, at a minimum, a radicle protruding from the seed (photos 1, 2, and 3).
So my answer to the question in the title is a 'Nope' and, although there probably will be a bit more stand loss from the adverse conditions immediately following seeding, I expect that these early seeded fields will have a good initial stand and have ample opportunity to tiller to overcome the higher stand loss.
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| Photo 1 - Barley seedling with radicle and the first seminal roots visible |
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| Photo 2 - An oat seed with the radicle just emerging at the tip of the ventral side of the seed |
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| Photo 3 - A wheat seed with the emerged radicle visible |
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