North Carolina wheat farmers, selecting right variety is top decision
In its official recommendations, N.C. State encourages farmers to plant three or more varieties every season to reduce the risk of freeze injury, pest damage and other forms of crop failure and to maximize the potential for a high yielding crop.
Selecting the right variety is job one for North Carolina wheat farmers and the most important key is planting varieties that are specifically targeted to the Tar Heel State.
North Carolina State University recommends farmers avoid varieties not adapted to North Carolina. The best choices for North Carolina farmers are varieties that have been in N.C. State’s Official Variety Test for more than one year, notes Randy Weisz, Extension small grains specialist at N.C. State.
“Avoid investing in varieties that have not been entered into these tests because they usually are not adapted to North Carolina’s growing conditions and may be highly susceptible to local diseases or mature too late to follow with double-cropped soybeans,” Weisz said.
In recommending varieties, N.C. State encourages wheat farmers to keep up to date on newly released varieties and how they perform in North Carolina. Small grain varieties generally have the highest yields and milling quality during the first couple of years after their release which is why the university recommends changing varieties over time.
In its official recommendations, N.C. State encourages farmers to plant three or more varieties every season to reduce the risk of freeze injury, pest damage and other forms of crop failure and to maximize the potential for a high yielding crop.
At wheat field days held across North Carolina this year, N.C. State small grains breeder Paul Murphy said wheat farmers are in a good place to select wheat varieties because a large number of public and private companies are producing varieties targeted to North Carolina.
“Every organization selling wheat varieties in North Carolina has good varieties,” Murphy said at the 2015 Eastern North Carolina Small Grain Feed Day held this spring at Griffin Farms in Washington, N.C.
“It’s just that some are probably better for your operation than others, depending on production problems you may have, like soil born mosaic virus or if you’re no-tiling into corn stubble or if you have a history of a Hessian fly problem.”
Yield and test weight are still the first things to think about when choosing a variety, but farmers also need to seek varieties that are resistant to powdery mildew and leaf rust which appear every year in North Carolina, Murphy said.