Ramsey County Ag Column

By Bill Hodous

May 12, 2008

Howdy!!!!

Wasn’t the weather nice on Mothers’ Day?  What a change one day can make as Saturday surprised us all with everything being white.  I have not had a chance to check on moisture amounts, around the county but some had upwards of .5 inch of moisture over the last three days while others have had very little.  My farmer son got rained out of the field on Friday night and was finally able to finish planting that field on Sunday.  Now today we are back into another weather system that is providing some spits but temperatures look really good towards the middle of the week.  Planting has been moving along very nicely in the county and surrounding area, with many producers finishing the small grain portion of their spring plantings.  With that being said, we are soon moving into the soybean and other warm season crops.  Corn has been getting planted and we are about 30 percent planted in the county.  I did receive many questions last week about “what is needed for live seeds per acre for my wheat, soybean and flax crop”.  I have included a chart, recommendations from NDSU, to use as a reference.

Crop                            Rate of Pure Live Seeds/Acre

HRSW                         1,250,000

Durum                          1,500,000

Barley                          1,000,000

Flax                              3,690,000

Oats                             1,250,000

Canola                           600,000

Soybeans                     150,000 in 30” Rows

                                    175,000 in 12-15” Rows

                                    200,000 in 6-8” Rows

Corn                              24,000-30,000 in 30” Rows

So to answer the question of what do I need to seed to attain the number of 3,690,000 live seeds per acre for flax we would do the following calculations, based on a 82% germination.

Step 1:             Count 100 seeds

Step 2:             Weigh 100 seeds in grams - 100 seeds weigh approximately .6 grams

Step 3:             Divide 45,400 by .6 = 75,667

Step 4:             3,690,000 divided by number of seeds per pound = The number of pounds per acre

                        Divide 3,690,000 by 75,667 = 48.8 pounds per acre

                        (3,690,000 is used from the chart above as the recommended seeding rate for Flax)

Step 5:             48.8 divided by .82 (82% germination) = 59.5 lbs live seed/acr

Monitor Winter Wheat for Wheat Streak
With the increase in winter wheat acres, one thing that producers will want to be watching for this spring is any symptoms of wheat streak mosaic.  Wheat streak is caused by virus that is spread by the wheat curl mite. 

Serious infections can occur in the fall, but the disease symptoms may not appear until spring. Infected plants have a general appearance of yellowing and stunting. If infection occurred early last fall, plants will become stunted fairly quickly this spring. Symptoms on individual leaves will appear as yellow stripes or streaks parallel to the veins. As the disease progresses, the leaves may become mottled, and eventually the yellowed leaves turn brown and die. Pictures of wheat infected with wheat streak mosaic can be found at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/smgrains/pp646w.htm .  Yield loss is correlated with the percent of plants infected and the time of infection. The earlier the infection occurs, the greater the yield loss. If the plants are infected early, almost no growth occurs and no heads are produced. If plants are infected at late tillering, heads could form but most likely will be sterile with no grain produced. 

Growers should be looking for any winter wheat that appears to be yellowing or is stunted. If suspicious plants are found in which a confirmation is needed please contact your local extension agent and/or send plants to the NDSU Plant Diagnostic lab in Fargo, ND, at 231-7854.

Calendar
June 22             Tolna Garden Tour (Only room for 25 people)
June 30-           Canola Day, Minot North Central Research Extension Center
July 8-              North Central Research Extension Center Pulse Day,
July 17-            Langdon field days
July 15-            Carrington field day
July 16             Minot field day
July ????          Ramsey County Crop Tour

524 4th Ave #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu