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Did your racehorse break a leg"It seems like we get rid of the highs and lows with the blend," Ohlde said. "There is no perfect wheat variety and we never know what Mother Nature will throw at us," Klein said. By Doug Rich A racehorse can win by a mile or break a leg in the starting gate. It never hurts to hedge your bets with a consistent winner. In wheat production planting blends of two to three certified varieties in one field can produce a consistent yield year after year in most cases. "With a blend there is no top end yield advantage, but there is an advantage in consistency," Steve Watson, Kansas State University (KSU) Agronomy Department, said. Planted separately one of those varieties might out-yield the blend but when you average those three varieties together the blend will come in less than the highest yield but higher than the lowest yield. Wheat blend acreage Producers have been using blends for some time but this varies across the High Plains. Kansas Agricultural Statistics began recording blends as a separate category in 1998. The high point was in 2004 when 15 percent of the wheat acreage in Kansas was planted to blends. In 2006 this had dropped to 10 percent. Kansas, Oregon, and Washington are the only states that record blends as a separate category on their annual wheat variety reports. In Nebraska the acreage planted to blends is usually just below Kansas and this year was just under 10 percent. Oklahoma producers plant virtually no acreage to blends. "I am not a big fan of blends," Dr. Jeff Edwards, Assistant Professor of Plants and Soils at Oklahoma State University (OSU), said. Dr. Edwards said his perception of the reason for using blends is to spread the risk. He would rather producers split their acreage between two to three varieties rather than plant blends and use a fungicide to improve the disease package. "We have more bin-run seed in this state and even though producers are doing a much better job of cleaning that seed, blending varieties would be an added step," Dr. Edwards said. "Blending or mixing varieties would be another step and most producers would not have the equipment to mix the wheat." In Oklahoma most wheat is grown either for grain or for grazing and it might not work to mix those types of wheat varieties. "We recommend blending wheat varieties when a person has a small acreage and it is just not economical to plant several varieties," Bob Klein, Extension Cropping Systems Specialist at the University of Nebraska, said. "If a producer has only 150 acres it is a lot of trouble to keep seed separate for small amounts." Klein recommends using blends on rented land, also. "There is no perfect wheat variety and we never know what Mother Nature will throw at us," Klein said. "In those cases, to guarantee you won't have a wreck with the landlord that could cause you to lose the lease, plant a blend of three varieties to protect yourself. It might not be the highest yield but it might come in with an average to good yield which would be important to a landlord with a small acreage." Picking varieties Ohlde Seed Farm in Palmer, Kan., is one of several seed houses in Kansas that blend seed for sale to their customers. Shane Ohlde said they have over 20 years experience with blends. Ohlde said they will sell blends according to a customers specification but 90 percent of the blends they sell are three equal parts of three varieties. They plant blends on their farm to make sure the varieties work well together. For example Ohlde took Neosho when it first came out and blended it with Santa Fe. Blends with Neosho that year were not as good as straight Neosho but he could take Santa Fe and blend it with another variety and get good results. "This year has been all over the board but for the previous two years we typically gained 3.5 bushels per acre with blends," Ohlde said. "Three varieties blended together are just as good as the average of the same three varieties planted separately." "It seems like we get rid of the highs and the lows with the blend," Ohlde said. "Rather than Santa Fe making 70 and Jagalene making 30 with a blend we can consistently hit 50 bushels per acre." Ohlde likes to blend one or two racehorse varieties with a variety that has a solid disease package. In north-central Kansas he would take Santa Fe and Tarkio, which have had the highest yields, and blend this with a third variety that has solid tan spot resistance if it is wheat on wheat. If it is late in the fall on double crop ground he might use Overley or Shocker with a variety like 2145 that tillers well and stands well. "I really like a blend," Ohlde said. "You can plant five different varieties on a farm without keeping them all separate and your consistency goes way up. It is like no-till, you might not have the highest yields but your yields are more consistent over the long run." If a producer is saving seed, Ohlde recommends not using a blend more than one or two years. The highest yielding variety in the blend will soon dominate the mixture. Early on when blends first became popular producers would match varieties that were reasonably close in maturity or offered some complimentary characteristic like a variety that does not have rust resistance with one that does. "Now everyone is doing whatever seems best," Watson said. "We find blends with varieties that are pretty far apart in maturity and it seems to work out. Most blends seem to be one or two new varieties with one or two older varieties." Research Christina Cowger, a researcher with USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit in Raleigh, N.C., has blended varieties with different maturity rates with good results. Cowger said that by the time harvest rolls around it does not make that much difference. "Most farmers do not scientifically harvest at the exact moment of physiological maturity," Cowger said. "By harvest time the gap in maturity is only a few days." Watson said the one thing that would be important in eastern and central Kansas is that all varieties are resistant to soil borne mosaic. "You would not want to throw in a TAM 111 or TAM 112 with Jagger or Jagalene and plant them down in Sumner County," Watson said. "If we could always pick in advance what was going to be the best performing variety everybody would make out like a bandit," Cowger said. "The trouble is we are just not sure in advance if there is going to be barley yellow dwarf, soil borne mosaic virus, or a late spring freeze." Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 9/17/07
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