SPRING WHEAT
Wheat crop growth stages are advancing from flowering to grain fill during a time when the weather is too hot and dry for disease development. Sweltering hot temperatures and wind on Saturday has caused awns to turn a lighter golden color compared to the healthy green color of heads. Soils have dried down causing plants with compromised roots systems to die. A July 5 article written by Drs. Joel Ransom and Marcia McMullen from NDSU explains why this could be occurring.

Very few symptoms of Fusarium head blight are present on heads. Symptoms are currently very scattered and of no economic significance.

SOYBEAN
I’m receiving reports of fields with a few (one to six) plants dying within rows at irregular intervals. This is not surprising with the wet weather that started off our soybean growing season. Some instances include dead or dying plants with light to medium-brownish lesions girdling lower stems. While this symptom is diagnostic of Phytophthora root rot, (PRR) the other root rot diseases common in the RRV could also be contributing to the plants’ demise, as well. PRR is managed through varietal resistance, so there is little that can be done at this plant growth stage-this also applies to Rhizoctonia root rot, Pythium root rot, and Fusarium root rot. As for PRR, the pathogen has developed many races which have overcome previous plant resistance mechanisms. New resistance genes are always being investigated and deployed in an effort to stay ahead of the pathogen.

That’s the news from where agriculture is strong, the fields are good looking, and the yields are all above average.....

(with acknowledgements to Garrison Keillor)

Char Hollingsworth
Extension plant pathologist