Fast & Furious

I am not referring to the popular street car racing movie series, but this title seems fitting for most of our planting seasons thus far. As we continue into the growing season if you notice issues in your fields or areas not growing well, give me a call.

Crop problem solving is one of my favorite parts of this job. If the issue calls for plant tissue sampling, soil sampling, nematode sampling, or a sample needs to be sent to our NC State Plant Disease & Insect Clinic, I have resources available to support this at no cost to you and am happy to help.

2023 NC Wheat Yield Contest Announcement

Please find an announcement from Dr. Angela Post regarding changes to the 2023 NC wheat yield contest. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

4/14/2023 Wrote By: Dr. Angela Post, NCSU Small Grains Specialist

Starting in 2023, the North Carolina wheat yield contest will be administered by the National Wheat Foundation as a part of the National Wheat Yield Contest. Over the next three weeks we will be releasing details on this adjustment so that growers can be successful getting entries submitted to the contest. The biggest change is the requirement to declare you will be entering the contest by May 15th 2023. At that time the entry fee needs to be paid (early entry by April 1st $100; late entry by May 15th $125 per entry) and the variety you will enter needs to be declared. We have a limited number of entry vouchers available for growers to use and we are encouraging growers to inquire with their seed dealer or brand representative to sponsor their entries. Additional changes are: 1) only one certifier will need to be present in the field with the farmer when the wheat is cut; 2) a wheat quality sample needs to be collected and retained; 3) if a contest entry cuts above 150 bu/acre, a second cut will be required to

confirm; and 4) rates of crop protection products are required as part of the production information collected. You can find the full rules for the national wheat yield contest online. By entering the national contest, you will automatically be entered into the North Carolina contest if you are an NC grower. We will release comprehensive guidance on entering the contest over the next two weeks. If you have questions about this change or about entering the contest, please contact your local county agent or Angela Post (arricha3@nsu.edu). Flyer about the contest.

Wheat Research Tour:  May 10th

Preparing for Stink Bugs in Corn

In wheat fields recently I have noticed a number of brown stink bugs. With the corn growing season well underway, please find our latest stink bug thresholds below. Dr. Dominic Reisig, NC State Extension Entomologist, highly recommends using this partial plant sampling technique in the table below. These thresholds are backed by research and save 60% of the sampling time.

Thresholds

Thresholds vary depending on growth stage and are based on a 100 plant sample as described below (see table). These thresholds are not percentages, but numbers. If a single plant has multiple stink bugs, this must be counted into the total. If the number of stink bugs exceeds the number in the “treat” category, treat the field even if 100 plants have not been sampled. If the number of stink bugs per plant falls between the “treat” and “do not treat” category, take more samples until a confident decision can be made.

Alternatively, if the entire plant is sampled, thresholds are 1 per 10 plants (V1 to V6), 1 per 8 plants (V14 to VT), and 1 per 4 plants (R1 to R2).

An excerpt from a 2019 article wrote by Dr. Dominic Reisig stated: “Corn is susceptible to damage at three stages (roughly): V1 to V6, V14 to VT, and R1 to R4. Note that corn cannot be damaged by stink bugs from V7 until the primary and secondary ears are beginning to push out (just prior to tassel). You will find stink bugs in corn throughout the growing season, but the critical period to prevent ear damage is just prior to tasseling (a one-to-two-week window).” Read more online