Time to Scout Wheat Fields

Although some parts of Eastern Oregon have begun wheat harvest, for most of the region now is the perfect time to be scouting your fields. Syngenta Agronomic Service Representative Don Drader says this time of year there are four things you should be looking for
Drader: “The first one would be the overall weed control that we are viewing at this time of the year. Look to see if there are any resistance developing or skips in the area or weeds that we didn’t properly identify and possibly used the wrong herbicide. It is the time to determine whether or not our herbicide approach is working and if we need to make any amendments for the upcoming season. The second thing I’m looking for as I’m out scouting is disease in the cereals. Winter wheat is pretty far along so any late rust showing up it is probably not going to have any impact on the yield in most cases. But spring wheat we still have some opportunities, if we see rust showing up in the wheat where we could spray it with a product like Quilt XL.”
The third item to consider when scouting Drader says are insects that are found in your field. Finally he says to examine the overall vigor of the wheat plants which tells you how your seed treatments are working for that particular variety.