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Fusarium head blight applications should be soon

Michigan State University’s wheat breeder says a timely fungicide application during flowering is the most important management strategy for growers.

Eric Olson tells Brownfield, “After flowering, look for those anthers.”

“When those anthers turn yellow, you’ve got about four days to get that T3 fungicide down, so that’s something to look for probably in the next week,” he recommends.

Olson says choosing resistant varieties and harvesting with a higher moisture level can also improve profitability.

“It is more profitable to harvest early, absorb the drying cost, than it is to deal with low falling numbers later,” he says. “The dockages are going to be far more costly than the drying cost.”

He says disease pressure up till now hasn’t been much of an issue in Michigan.

“It’s been hard to find any bad-looking fields, most wheat looks extraordinary this year, so I hope that growers are seeing extraordinary yields and good profitability this year,” he says.

Olson’s wheat variety trials this year are studying resistance to powdery mildew, Fusarium head blight, stripe rust, and leaf rust across seven sites in the state. He says results should be published in August for farmers.

Brownfield interviewed Olson during this week’s Allegan County regional wheat field day.