Freeze damage to wheat becomes apparent

Joe Kejr looks at what he describes as his best wheat field and sees it turning brown and laying flat on the ground. He knows it's gone, even though a few more days of growing is needed to determine the true extent of the freeze damage to the Kansas wheat crop.

"Right now I would say that half of my wheat acres are gone," said Kejr who farms near Brookville and serves as president of the Kansas Association of wheat Growers.

With a more positive outlook, Kansas wheat Commissioner Larry Kepley, who farms in the Ulysses area of southwest Kansas, said they came out pretty well with the Easter freeze because their crop was not far enough along.

Much of the preliminary freeze information indicates the area of heaviest damage is in central Kansas, and that is borne out by the observations from Paul Penner, who farms in the Hillsboro area of Marion County.

"My evaluation of our wheat fields is we have almost total damage to the main stalks and tillers," said Penner, the KAWG vice-president. "We sustained low temperatures in the teens for too long and the damage is showing up."

Before and after

Kansas wheat Commissioner Steve Clanton, who farms near Minneapolis in Ottawa County, took photographs both just before the Easter freeze and then a few days after. A healthy greenish-white head developing in the stem could be seen in the "before" picture.

The "after" photo still showed the greenish-white head, but the big difference was the stem below the head, that must support and supply nutrients to the developing grain. It was pinched and turning brown.

"It is still too early to tell what spring tillers may do to fill the harvest potential," Clanton said.

Many farmers across Kansas have been attending Extension Service-sponsored meetings. At an April 17 meeting at Hesston, Moundridge producer and KAWG Director Bruce Otte, said, "My first and second (wheat plant) tillers are gone. So, I will have to see what develops."

Dozens of farmers showed up at an April 18 meeting at Hays, where Ellis County Extension agricultural agent Stacy Campbell advised many producers in his area to take a wait-and-see before making any major decisions about the crop.

Campbell, along with northwest Extension crops and soils scientist Brian Olson, inspected producers' samples.

"It was real mixed bag. Some samples had no damage. Some had 50 percent damage to the head," Campbell said.

"Some other samples had head problems. In some cases the head just froze. It's basically sterile. There's some stem damage. In that case the wheat just won't produce a crop. Even if it heads appear, they'll just fall over."

History is good teacher

Campbell credits many area farmers for sticking to the historic Oct. 1 date for optimum planting as damage at their farms seems less severe.

"As lush as it is and with the moisture we have, 30 to 50 percent damage is a grey area. Farmers everywhere need to visit with their insurance adjusters and need to consider the May 1 deadline for buying hail insurance before they think about maybe planting something else," Campbell said.

Elsewhere in Kansas, Randy Fritzemeier, a member of the KAWG Board of Directors who farms near Stafford said, "My wheat survived the freeze much better than I anticipated. I didn't find any damage to the head of the wheat." Fritzemeier said he had more damage from the snow, with a lot of wheat broken over at the base.

"This won't come back up," Fritzemeier said, adding he also had a lot of wheat drowned out from standing water in mudholes. Another interesting comment he had was that wheat that had been grazed looked better than wheat that had not been grazed.

Another KAWG Board member, Leon Sowers, who farms near Murdock in Kingman County, reported about 2 inches of snow with a lot of the bigger wheat laying flat.

"On closer inspection, the tillers are broken over about 2 to 3 inches above the ground, and stems are now soft and weak," Sowers said. "I think we have much more serious damage than previously thought. Time will tell, but it does not look good now."

Weather continues role

Kansas wheat Chief Executive Officer Dusti Fritz attended the Hesston meeting. Most of the reports at that meeting indicated that the primary plant was dead and secondary and tertiary tillers were beginning to emerge under the soil.

"The conclusions drawn are that all of our chance for a crop in this severely damaged area weighs on those newly emerging tillers, and weather will play a vital role through the month of June on whether or not they will survive."

So, it is still wait and see for most producers in order to determine the extent of their damage and then make their decisions.

"With 50 percent damage or less, our recommendation is to hold tight," Campbell said. "If the weather doesn't get too hot, too soon, we could maybe get several secondary tillers to help make up for the dead main tillers.

"Yield potential now for the crop that has survived is again dependent on weather. We need temperatures to moderate in the 70s. Certainly 60s and 70s are better than 80s and 90s through May."

Larry Dreiling contributed to this report.

A MIXED BAG--Greenish-white heads developing in their stems are usually signs of a healthy wheat plant. That sort of wheat is found on the left. The head turning brown (right) means the plant is dead. These two samples were taken just a few feet apart from each other in the same field, causing Stacy Campbell, Ellis County, Kan., Extension agricultural agent, to call the samples he inspected a mixed bag. He said the damage could be more evident in the next few days with the advent of warmer weather. (Journal photos by Larry Dreiling.)

Date: 4/19/07

	Web hpj.com

Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2008.  High Plains Publishers, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com