AgAlerts 2001 From Griggs County
By John Swenson, Griggs County Extension Agent

Issue # 5, June 5, 2001

How This Spring Ranks in Growing Degree Days
Orange Wheat Blossom Midge High Risk Planting Dates
Don't Lose Patience With Evergreen Recovery
Armyworms Found in Richland County
Yeast May be used in Controlling Wheat Scab in the Future

How This Spring Ranks in Growing Degree Days

This has been a cool wet spring making planting and crop emergence difficult. How does this spring rank in recent years as far as growing degree days for corn, sunflower, wheat and potato. The following table is a collection of data from the NDAWN weather sites at Dazey and McHenry.

	Growing DD as of June 3, & Year Rank
	Dazey	Corn DD	Dazey	Sunflower DD	Dazey	Wheat DD	Dazey	Potato DD
1	1998	536	1998	774	1998	1400	1994	148.2
2	1994	509	1994	725	1994	1262	1999	137.8
3	2001	449	2001	649	2001	1235	1998	134.6
4	2000	421	1999	624	1999	1211	1996	129.8
5	1999	412	2000	608	2000	1151	2001	124.4
6	1993	368	1993	564	1993	1072	1995	112.3
7	1997	335	1997	507	1997	989	2000	111.9
8	1995	285	1995	435	1995	976	1997	111.0
9	1996	262	1996	427	1996	906	1993	74.0

	McHenry	Corn DD	McHenry	Sunflower DD	McHenry	Wheat DD	McHenry	Potato DD
1	1998	497	1998	729	1998	1344	1998	133.7
2	2000	399	2000	595	2000	1158	1999	126.9
3	2001	399	2001	584	2001	1150	1996	125.7
4	1999	373	1999	576	1999	1146	2001	114.4
5	1997	335	1997	503	1997	974	2000	111.9
6	1996	248	1996	407	1996	876	1997	106.4

Note: The Dazey station had GDD data from 1993 while the McHenry station had data from 1996.

Orange Wheat Blossom Midge High Risk Planting Dates

We have reached the point where 600 degree days (40 F) have been accumulated around the state. Wheat planted from May 2 - 28 are at risk of midge injury in Griggs County. The first date is when we reached 200 DD and the second date is when we reached 600 DD. Research has shown that crops planted in this range of DD will be flowering during peak adult midge emergence. Based on these planting dates, a monitoring strategy for the midge can be made. Although we have had low levels of midge activity in the past few years it does not mean we are not at risk.

Don't Lose Patience With Evergreen Tree Recovery

This past winter caused much damage to many evergreens in eastern North Dakota. The injury consisted mostly of desiciation of the needles. To know the real extent of the damage we must wait until the tree buds break dormancy and begin spring growth. The buds are more hardy than the needles so winter injury is reduced. The following pictures show evergreens is the early stage of recovery. These trees might never fully recover to conditions prior to this injury. But be patient and see what develops. Some pruning might be necessary to improve the shape and appearance of the tree.

(Click on Photo to enlarge)

Ponderosa Pine Scotch Pine Colorado Spruce

Army Worms Found in Richland County

NDSU Extension Entomologist Phillip Glogoza, has received a sample of armyworms found in a sugarbeet field in the Colfax area. This is not a typical place to find them since they usually turn up in grasses. Large populations have been occurring in the southern states of Arkansas and Missouri. Moths have been captured in light traps through most of May in southern Minnesota and in North Dakota. These caterpillars ranged in size from 1/4 to 3/4 inches in length. Keep an open eye for armyworms as you scout fields this week. For more information on armyworms click on the following link. Armyworm and the Army Cutworm E-830.

Yeast May be used in Controlling Wheat Scab in the Future

    Agricultural Research Service of the USDA (ARS) researchers led by plant pathologist David A. Schisler have been busy supplying 13 cooperating state agricultural experiment stations with cultures of the yeast Cryptococcus nodaensis as a biological control standard-bearer for the test to compare chemical power to biological control strategies for Fusarium head blight (scab) control. Commercial and experimental fungicides, along with the yeast and a strain of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, are being compared in annual field tests known as the Uniform Wheat Fungicide Trials. The trials, a cooperative project funded by USDA and state agricultural experiment stations, will provide direct comparisons of scab-control measures in various environments, from year to year. NDSU is one of the thirteen cooperating agricultural experiment stations. Dakota Growers Pasta Company has also help fund the some of the research after seeing results of the preliminary field trials.
    The USDA has applied for a patent jointly with Ohio State University on seven microbes presently considered most promising. In three years of field tests at a few locations, all of these microbes have shown promise, several reducing disease severity up to 80 percent. Because the microorganisms may reduce the disease in different ways, they might be applied in combinations.
    Applied to wheat as it begins to flower, the beneficial microbes, according to one theory, produce chemicals that inhibit growth of the disease fungi. Or in some cases, the "good guy" microbes may gobble up nutrients that ooze from the anthers (male organs in the spikelet). When the wind Fusarium spores onto the anthers, little if any nourishment is left. The culprit fungi ma then never gain a foot hold to damage the developing kernel deeper inside the spikelet. Combinations of chemical fungicides which the microorganisms could prove resistant, could lead to reduced amounts of chemical fungicides needed and may reduce the chance of the pathogen's developing resistance to the fungicide.
    At this time, we are several years away from a commercial product. But there is some new advances in research to help control this disease that has devastated wheat and barley in eastern North Dakota since 1993.
    Article summarized from Agricultural Research, June 2001, Vol. 49, No. 6, ISSN 0002-161X, "Yeasts Debuts in Tests on Controlling Wheat Scab", page 20.