12/18/08 Winter and winter wheat

Farm and Ranch December 18, 2008 Additional snowfall is certainly welcomed by northwest wheat growers. Before this latest storm some winter wheat was bare to the bitter cold temperatures that have settled in over the region, raising the specter of winterkill, primarily in Washington. Tom Mick CEO of the Washington Grain Alliance says the area of concern is not as large as initially thought and the high yielding Palouse had adequate cover. Mick: "There has been some snow cover that has got into the furrows and provided some cover and we think that is going to make it. But there is also some ground that is moving so we have some black snow out there, exposing some crowns, and that is probably lost. We had very dry conditions that we planted into so the wheat didn't get very tall or establish a good root system. So we are very vulnerable and yes, we expect some winterkill but at this point it is hard to say how much." And as Mick points out, wheat is a remarkably resilient plant. In eastern Oregon, Larry Lutcher with Oregon State University Extension in Morrow County said there was snow cover before the temperatures dropped. In Sherman County Sandy Mcnab of OSU Extension said snow had been blown around but deep furrows helped to hold some cover. He did wonder though if the winter wheat had had adequate time to harden off. Elsewhere in the U.S. winterkill is a concern in parts of Kansas and Colorado. I'm Bob Hoff and that' the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.