Oklahoma State Recommendations for Checking Potential Freeze Damage in Wheat

May 06, 2021

Freezing temperatures that hit much of Oklahoma in mid-April may have wheat growers racing out to their fields to check on potential damage to their crop, but time is on the side of agricultural producers in this instance.

“The extent of the damage likely will not be identifiable until a week or so following such an extreme weather event,” said Amanda de Oliveira Silva, Oklahoma State University Extension small grains specialist. “Be aware recommendations about temperatures and time durations are rules of thumb and not an exact science. I’ve seen instances where conventional wisdom should indicate complete crop loss and we skate through with minimal damage.”

However, there are some factors to consider:

Every freeze event is unique, and freeze injury needs to be checked on a field-by-field basis.
Healthy wheat heads will remain turgid with a green color.
Damaged wheat heads will be bleached, yellow or brown, and will break easily when pushed against.

The amount of injury observed will depend on the growth stage of the plants, how low the temperature got and how long it stayed at those cold temperatures. Crop elevation, residue cover and moisture content also can play significant roles.

“It’s possible to have variability in injury symptoms among fields and even within fields because of the large number of influential factors,” Silva said. “That’s why OSU Extension recommends checking each field.”

Silva recently provided additional insights about assessing potential freeze-damaged wheat on the agricultural television program SUNUP and on her online blog at https://osuwheat.com/2021/04/20/assessing-potential-freeze-damage-on-wheat/.

Fact sheets detailing research-based information about best management practices for wheat production in Oklahoma are available online through OSU Extension and at OSU Extension county offices.

“If a wheat producer is unsure how to properly assess potential freeze damage or have questions about management considerations, he or she should consult with their OSU Extension county agricultural educator,” Silva said.

Source : okstate.edu

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators