Minnesota Crop News

Small grains harvest is progressing at a brisk pace, and so is the harvest of the small grain yield trials.  Only the spring wheat, barley, and oat variety trials in the two northernmost locations in the state are left standing, and those will come off sooner rather than later.  Curious how your varieties fared against the other entries this season? The preliminary results for grain yield of the winter wheat, winter rye, winter triticale, barley, oats, and spring wheat trials have been posted on varietytrials.umn.edu .  Simply follow the link and click on the nested Google Sheet tab labeled '2026 Preliminary Results'.  Check in (early) next week if the data for your favorite location isn't posted yet. I'll keep updating the  Google Sheets more or less the day I have new data in hand (well, actually, in a spreadsheet on my computer...)  Sin-cereal-y, Jochum Wiersma

Photo credit: University of Minnesota Extension Today on Advancing Nitrogen Smart  we ask an unusual question: What is manure, really? We all know manure is made of the liquids and solids that pass through an animal's digestive system, but what has to happen for manure to become usable? Is all manure created equal, or do differences in animal type - and their feed - result in manure with variable nutrient values? How do factors like handling, storage and animal bedding impact available nutrients in manure? What are some of the long-term benefits of manure application? Is there an optimal time of year to apply manure? Brad Carlson and Melissa Wilson answer these questions and many more on this 39th episode of the Advancing Nitrogen Smart podcast. Read the full transcript here Guests: Brad Carlson, Extension educator (Mankato) Melissa Wilson, Extension manure nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Additional resources: How to put together a manure management plan Nitrogen ava...

The blast furnace that was the weather for the past few days, the variability in precipitation received in the preceding week or weeks, and the immediate forecast all point to shorter leaf wetness durations.  This, in turn, means less risk of FHB infections for the remaining spring wheat acres that have not reached anthesis yet. Meanwhile, Bacterial Leaf Streak (BLS) is thriving in these windy, humid conditions and can be found across the region. Leaf rust has been found at extremely low levels in a few spots in the Red River Valley, while a few FHB infections were found in the winter wheat variety trials on the Northwest Research & Outreach Center.  It will be a difficult decision whether to spray a fungicide to suppress FHB if drought stress becomes more evident in your fields with each passing day.    Therefore, the advice this week is as follows: Spring Wheat -  Apply a fungicide at Feekes 10.51 (beginning of anthesis) if you find either tan spot, Septor...

This week's update is NOT a carbon copy of last week; while the fields still are all but void of disease and pests of any kind, the immediate weather forecast is not. Extreme heat is forecasted for the southern half of the state. Luckily, the grainfill period is well underway for the spring cereals and near completion for the winter cereals.  The risk of yield losses caused by fungal diseases is very limited at this stage of the game. Fusarium head blight infections can still occur and, consequently, deoxynivalenol (DON) can still accumulate in the grain.  However, the FHB risk models indicate low risk across the southern half of the state. In the northern part of the state, the situation is not the same.  In the southern half of the Red River Valley, about half the spring wheat crop just reached anthesis this past week.  Spring wheat in the northern half of the Red River Valley will start to reach anthesis this week.   And while daytime highs are not pred...

Irrigation in Minnesota. Photo: UMN Extension Irrigation is the topic of discussion of today's episode of the Nutrient Management Podcast . What are current irrigation conditions in Minnesota? How is the aquifer in the Central Sands region recharged, and why is it so important to manage nutrients efficiently when irrigating? What new irrigation and nutrient management research is being conducted by the University of Minnesota? What are some of the benefits and risks associated with irrigation - and what practices might a farmer want to focus on first? What partnerships and financial resources are available for Minnesota farmers interested in adopting irrigation practices? Are there smaller practices that a grower new to irrigation might want to consider? What have farmers reported back to our panelists after having adopted irrigation practices? What are irrigation practices like throughout the rest of the country, and how does Minnesota differ? All this and more on today's epis...

 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, e...

Photo: University of Minnesota Extension By: Mary Nesberg, Extension educator Are you trying to remember the last time you screened your drinking water well for nitrates? The Minnesota Department of Health recommends screening for nitrates every year. There are several resources available for well users and farmers in southeast Minnesota to help improve water quality. Southeast Minnesota’s karst geology Residents of southeast Minnesota have many reasons to love this corner of the state — the rolling hills, limestone bluffs, and clear, spring-fed streams that define its landscape. These features exist because we live in a region shaped by karst geology, where water has carved pathways through limestone over thousands of years. It’s a landscape of beauty and complexity — but also one of vulnerability.   Image credit: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency In karst areas, fractures, sinkholes, and underground caves can allow water and pollutants to travel quickly from the surface into the...

Please take a look at the photo below and guess whether this is a well-established cover crop or just a thick, lush crop of a volunteer grain. The field was tilled once in late August, early September. The picture was taken on November 6th near Crookston.  Photo 1 - Cover Crop or Volunteer Crop? You are today's winner if you guessed a lush volunteer crop of spring wheat.  The headland immediately at the field entrance is thinner and anemic, as is the edge of the ditch.  Otherwise, this volunteer spring wheat crop checks every single box for what you would want a cereal cover crop to look like in late fall. And that is the point of this blog - this meets all the criteria of how a cover crop should look in late fall, other than it was not sown by an approved seeding operation, nor does it contain a companion species. You should know that both mechanical and pneumatic fertilizer spreaders, in combination with tillage, can qualify as approved seeding operations. It is not tha...

Mayetiola destructor  is thought to have evolved alongside the ancestors of wheat, barley, and rye in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East. It is believed to have been introduced into North America in the straw bedding of Hessian mercenaries during the American Revolution, making it likely the first invasive insect pest on the North American continent. Its common name became Hessian fly as a result of this introduction. Hessian fly is now a permanent resident anywhere in North America where wheat, barley, or rye is grown. Populations of Hessian fly, and in turn economic losses, can effectively be held in check with the use of Hessian fly-resistant varieties, seeding winter cereals after the so-called fly-free date, and avoiding the green bridge with proper field hygiene by destroying volunteers of any host species early enough that the insect can not migrate to the newly seeded host species. A few summers ago, Hessian fly infestations in spring wheat reached high enough l...

Until this year, I probably would have argued that it would be darn difficult to kill winter rye in a Minnesota winter. Last fall was dry, but eventually all six winter rye trial locations had excellent stands. They had reached at least the tillering stage before winter weather halted growth and development. The winter that followed was very open and dry, however, and resulted in enough winterkill that three locations were abandoned.  I suspect that desiccation, rather than the temperature, led to their demise. The average winter survival scores of the three remaining trial locations are summarized in Table 1.   My interpretation is that KWS Receptor, SU Erling, and Danko are slightly more prone to winterkill and thinner stands if there is a very open and dry winter, and that Hazlet, Rymin, and ND Gardner are the least likely to suffer stand losses in open and dry winters.    Table 1 - Average winter survival score of winter rye varieties at three locations...

The plot combines were rolling last week in barley, oats, rye, and wheat trials across the state. That means you can now get a sneak peek of the results of these trials at varietytrials.umn.edu .  When the weather straightens out and harvest resumes, more locations will be added as quickly as possible.

American Crystal Sugar’s pre-pile harvest campaign is scheduled to start on August 12. This early start creates an opportunity to establish a cover crop to reduce the potential of wind and/or water erosion throughout the winter and early spring. Winter rye may seem like the obvious choice as it is nearly foolproof to get established and is the most winter-hardy. Likewise, spring or winter wheat may look like an option too. If you, however, plan to seed spring wheat on this year’s sugar beet acreage (or seed wheat adjacent to this year’s sugar beet fields you plan to establish this cover crop), you may want to read the rest of this article. Three potential pest and disease problems in spring wheat can take advantage of a "green bridge" to overwinter and cause problems next season. The earlier seeding allows the cover crop to grow much longer, and thus taller, this fall. The earlier seeding, however, also creates this green bridge for barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), wheat c...

Dr. Rob Proulx at North Dakota State University updated the recommendations for ground application of fungicides to combat Fusarium Head Blight.  The extension bulletin detailing the new recommendations can be found here .  The long and the short of the updated recommendations is to use TeeJet's new asymmetric dual spray nozzles (Photo 1). These nozzles were specifically designed to spray fungicides at anthesis in cereals.  This new style allows for ground speeds between 10 to 15 mph without sacrificing control when using a spray volume between 10 and 20 gallons per acre and pressure yielding a coarse droplet size.  For example, a sprayer equipped with AI3070-03VP nozzles will deliver a coarse droplet size at 60 to 80 psi to between 11 and 12.5 gpa at 10 mph.  When equipped with AI3037-04Vp nozzles, that same sprayer can travel up to 15 mph at 70 psi to deliver 10 gpa. Photo 1 - TeeJet  AI3070-03VP nozzle (Photo credit: TeeJet Technologies)

While the first part of that title may have been true when trying to control powdery and downy mildew with Bordeaux mixture in wine grapes, it is no longer the case when controlling small grain diseases with the current systemic fungicides. When does adding a fungicide to your herbicide program in small grains make sense? The simplest answer is “ Only when you have found disease in your field or have insufferable early-season disease risk ”.  Adding fungicides in the absence of a disease does not buy you anything other than risking crop injury, as certain fungicide formulations may ‘heat up’ specific herbicides. It is therefore important to read the label restrictions on the herbicides and fungicides you plan to use. What about yield? This past winter, Dr. Andrew Friskop, NDSU Extension Plant Pathologist, summarized 16 years of fungicide timing trials across North Dakota (Figure 1). One of the questions he wanted to answer was when it made sense to make an early-season fung...

The wheat that was seeded between April 21st and the 26th in parts of NW Minnesota endured two major rain events immediately following seeding that resulted in ponding in some fields.  The first phase of germination is the uptake of water. Unfortunately, even temporary ponding is too much of a good thing and will generally result in the seed rotting rather than sprouting.  Consequently, emergence will be patchy, and the initial stand will be below par in areas of the field that were waterlogged for more than a day. Use the following guidelines to determine whether replanting is worthwhile: If the reduced stand is uniform (no big skips or holes), keep stands of 15 to 17 plants per square foot.  The crop still has ample time to tiller and compensate for less than ideal stands, especially if the weather stays cool. If skips are large (3 to 6 ft.), or holes are 4 to 6 feet in diameter, consider replanting or filling in those areas of the field.   To do a stand count...

The last few days, the weather has given us some dry sunny weather with high winds. It has been great to have the fields finally dry off and make strides in planting any remaining acres.   Unfortunately, this also exposed young small-grain seedlings to the same conditions. The daytime heat at the soil surface has caused heat canker. The tender young tissue at the soil surface has more or less been ‘cooked’, appearing as a yellow band that is slightly constricted (Photo 1). As the leaf elongates, this yellow band (1/8 - 1/4") moves upward and away from the soil surface.  Multiple bands can appear if the hot and dry weather lasts for several days, because of the high winds, the tips of leaves may break off at the yellow band, giving the field a ragged appearance. Damage from heat canker is temporary and should not affect further growth and development. Photo 1 – Barley seedlings with the yellow, constricted appearance that is symptomatic for heat canker (photo courte...

Regenerative agriculture, resilient cropping systems, and soil health are just a few of the buzzwords that are busied a lot these days. One of the simplest and fastest ways to reach the goals that these concepts set out to accomplish is extending your crop rotation beyond the corn-soybean rotation that dominates much of Minnesota.  Can spring or winter wheat, hybrid winter rye, or oats be more than just cover and actually be that third crop? An outbreak of Fusarium head blight and challenges with pre-harvest sprouting this past season give pause on whether these risks are worth the rewards of an extended crop rotation. The University of Minnesota Extension is offering small grain workshops across Minnesota in February to address successful small grain production. Variety selection for spring wheat, oats, and winter rye, new and updated seeding rate recommendations for winter rye, and management of Fusarium head blight in wheat and oats will be discussed.  Bring your questions ...

Fusarium Head Blight Risk I took a few days off over the July 4th Holiday weekend. The risk for Fusarium head blight did not; the risk for spring wheat varieties with a rating of 6 or worse continues to be moderate to high across all of Minnesota through the end of the week  (Figure 1). The marked difference in the risk of infection between highly susceptible and moderately resistant varieties remains the same (Figure 2).  Figure 1. Fusarium head blight risk for very susceptible varieties for July 9 through 12. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Figure 2. Fusarium head blight risk for moderately resistant varieties for July 9 through 12. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Have I found FHB?  It takes about a week for symptoms of FHB to start showing after the initial infection. It was not hard to find FHB in the winter rye, winter wheat, spring wheat, and barley variety trials on the Sand Plains Rese...

Fusarium Head Blight Risk Fusarium head blight risk for spring wheat varieties with a rating of 6 or worse will be moderate to high across all of Minnesota through the end of the week  (Figure 1). A marked difference in the risk of infection exists between highly susceptible and moderately resistant varieties (Figure 2). Figure 1. Fusarium head blight risk for very susceptible varieties for July 1 through 4. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Figure 2. Fusarium head blight risk for moderately resistant varieties for July 1 through 4. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. One or Two Fungicide Applications to Suppress FHB? The continued wet weather has some of you wondering whether a second application of a fungicide to suppress FHB is warranted.  Dr. Andrew Friskop,  as part of one of the US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative Coordinated Projects, evaluated the two-application strategy against the stand...

Fusarium Head Blight Risk Fusarium head blight risk for spring wheat varieties with a rating of 6 or worse will be high across much of the state through the end of the week  (Figure 1). The heart of the Red River Valley is the only area with a low to moderate risk.  A marked difference in the risk of infection exists between highly susceptible and moderately resistant varieties (Figure 2). Figure 1. Fusarium head blight risk for very susceptible varieties for June 24 through 28. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Figure 2. Fusarium head blight risk for moderately resistant varieties for June 24 through 28. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Other Diseases Last week's scouting reports and my own observations confirmed stripe rust at very low incidence and severity across much of the state (Photo 1).  Likewise, bacterial leaf streak, tan spot, and BYDV can also be found,  but incidence and severi...