Wheat Staging

During a recent Wheat U event in Spokane, Washington hosted by High Plains Journal and BASF, Jim Vandecovering with BASF talked with wheat growers about the importance of proper wheat staging and whether it really matters for overall plant health and profitability. Vandecovering had a fascinating take on the individual wheat plant analogizing it to a factory with inputs, assembly lines and outputs. “We want to think about the wheat crop a little differently. We typically talk about the growth stages that are important for various inputs within the crop but today I want to talk about we factory. We should think about each week planned as a mini factory in the field. We talk about how important it is for factories to have a good receiving end, a good assembly line and a good warehouse for the inputs that go into that factory and really the wheat plant is no different. We need to think about the receiving station as the root system, to plan a high quality seed that has a good seed treatment on it with a variety that is adapted to the area for high yield.”