Wheat disease updates are written by Dr. Bob Hunger, OSU Extension Plant Pathologist

Oklahoma:  Again, a cool and moist week in Oklahoma with rain and cool temperatures in the forecast through the weekend.  Wheat is mostly at flowering around Stillwater but by early next week will likely be past flowering.  From what I hear across the state, wheat is quickly approaching, at, or will be quickly past flowering (depending on what part of the state, when planted, and how much drought stress was endured).

Around Stillwater there has been an increase in stripe rust and powdery mildew (especially stripe rust).  Leaf rust also has increased, but not to the same extent (incidence or severity) as stripe rust.  Dr. Brett Carver (OSU Wheat Breeder) indicated he saw significant stripe rust in his nurseries at Lahoma (north-central OK).  Gary Strickland (Jackson County Extn Educator) also has observed an increase in stripe rust (and to a lesser extent, leaf rust) in far southwestern Oklahoma.  My impression is that stripe rust has activated again with the cool and wet weather, and continues to spread across Oklahoma.  This Thursday and Friday there will be field days in central Oklahoma, so look for a more extensive report next week.

To the south of us in Texas (far southern Texas), Dr. Amir Ibrahim (Professor, Small Grains Breeder/Geneticist; Texas A&M AgriLife Research; College Station, TX) has indicated in breeder nurseries near Castroville, TX, that there is a mixture of stripe rust, leaf rust, bacterial leaf streak and some septoria.  This has occurred because of back-and-forth switching between cool and warm temperatures mixed in with lots of rain.  To some extent, this also has occurred across Oklahoma during April.

Mite-transmitted viruses also are prevalent in Oklahoma this year.  Yesterday when in nurseries here at Stillwater I noticed occasional trapped heads scattered throughout the field.  In observing these in the lab using a dissecting scope, I found wheat curl mites associated with these trapped heads.  Although only sporadic around Stillwater, the Diagnostic Lab has received multiple samples that they confirmed for presence of Wheat streak mosaic virus, Wheat mosaic virus (High plains virus), and/or Barley yellow dwarf virus.  This includes samples from Grady, Noble, Grant, Texas and Woods Counties.  I would refer you to EPP-7328 (Wheat Streak Mosaic, High Plains Disease, and Triticum Mosaic:  Three Virus Diseases of Wheat in Oklahoma) available at http://osufacts.okstate.edu for more information on these mite-transmitted viruses.

Reports/excerpts of reports from other states: 

Kansas:  Doug Shoup (SE Area Crops/Soil Specialist) & Erick DeWolf (Extn Plant Pathologist), Kansas State University, 22-Apr-2015:  “Stripe rust has been found in several fields of wheat in southeast , south central, and north central Kansas. Given the forecast of cool and relatively wet conditions for the next seven days, this is a potentially significant situation for fields anywhere in Kansas planted to varieties susceptible to stripe rust. Intensive scouting of fields should begin now.”  [This was the first paragraph of their report, which can be found at:

https://webapp.agron.ksu.edu/agr_social/eu_article.throck?article_id=532

Wheat disease updates are written by Dr. Bob Hunger, OSU Extension Plant Pathologist

Oklahoma:  This past week has been wet and cool across most of Oklahoma, which has greatly helped the wheat but also should lead to more foliar diseases – especially stripe and leaf rust.  Around Stillwater, we have not seen a big increase in stripe rust yet, but can find many leaves beneath the flag leaf on which there are actively sporulating pustules.  There also are leaves on which the black spore structure stage of stripe rust has appeared (called the telial stage – see photo – note actively sporulating pustules towards the base of the leaf).  Typically this indicates the disease is “shutting down,” which it was prior to this week.  However, with the cool and wet weather since Monday, there likely will be a “reactivation” of stripe rust – especially given that cool and wet weather is forecast for the next 5-10 days as well!

The black spore structure stage (telial stage) of stripe rust. Note actively sporulating pustules towards the base of the leaf.

I get the impression from talking to Aaron Henson (County Educator; Tillman County) as well as other growers and consultants around the state that this is similar to what they are seeing.  Wheat seems to range from boot to heads emerging, so if you are contemplating applying a fungicide to protect a promising wheat yield, I suggest it be done soon.  Remember, GS 10.5 (heads fully emerged but not yet flowering) is the cut-off for applying fungicides for wheat foliar diseases.  That point likely is not far away for much of southern and central Oklahoma.  It likely is a bit farther away for northern and northwestern Oklahoma, but it is much better to apply a fungicide a little early rather than after the flag leaf is infected.

Most of the samples that came into the Diagnostic lab last week tested positive for wheat streak mosaic (WSM), including three from the panhandle.  However, there is nothing that can be done about WSM at this point.  I would refer you to EPP-7328 (Wheat Streak Mosaic, High Plains Disease, and Triticum Mosaic:  Three Virus Diseases of Wheat in Oklahoma) available at www.wheat.okstate.edu for more information on these mite-transmitted viruses.

Reports/excerpts of reports from other states:

Colorado  Dr. Scott Haley (Professor & Wheat Breeder, Colorado State University) 16-Apr-2015:  “FYI, stripe rust was confirmed for a field site near the Denver International Airport in Colorado this week. Infection was moderate but cool wet weather we are experiencing now could cause this to increase. This is pretty early for stripe rust sightings in eastern Colorado.”

Wheat disease updates are written by Dr. Bob Hunger, OSU Extension Plant Pathologist

Oklahoma: On April 6, I traveled a route from Clinton (85 miles west of OKC) in west central Oklahoma going northeast through Custer County to Kingfisher (40 miles northwest of OKC) and then to Marshall (35 miles west of Stillwater). Although there was some good wheat on this route (e.g. the variety trials at Kingfisher and Marshall), it is posed to decline quickly unless rain is received. Most of the wheat I looked at in Custer County northeast of Clinton was small and fields were terribly dry. Wheat in this area seemed to be at GS 6-7 and I’m guessing was planted quite late due to the dry fall. The most common problem I saw were greenbug, especially in Custer County. However, as the photos show, there were many mummies present indicating the population should be crashing shortly. I also saw some stripe rust but only an infection here and there. Around the variety trial at Kingfisher, wheat was mostly around GS 9 and I saw no aphids or disease. At Marshall, wheat was at GS 8 and there was some stripe rust but at a low incidence.

Greenbugs and mummies in Custer County, Oklahoma

On April 7, I traveled to Frederick in south central OK looking at wheat along the way. At a variety demo 20 miles west of OKC right at I-40, I found the wheat at GS 8 with just a little touch here and there of stripe rust. Soil moisture here looked good; this area must have caught a decent rain in the last week or so. The same could be said at another variety demo straight south about 15 miles south at Minco. Here the wheat in the field surrounding the demo was at GS 9, there was good soil wetness, and the wheat looked good. I did not see any rusts or powdery mildew, but there were occasional BYD spots. Further southwest near Apache (30 miles north of Lawton) wheat was at GS 9-10 and looked very good in the variety trial as well as in fields. However, some leaves were beginning to roll and the need for moisture to continue the crop was evident. I didn’t see any aphids or diseases in wheat west of Apache, but I the variety trial just south of Apache I found some stripe rust and greenbug; both at a very low incidence.

Wheat stripe rust

The rest of this trip was spent with Aaron Henson (Extension Educator, Tillman County) and Mark Gregory (Area Extn Agron Spec – SW Oklahoma) looking at wheat in Tillman County. Wheat in this area was mostly at GS 9-10 with awns occasionally just emerging from the boot. Some fields we visited were dry and impacted by drought, while others looked good but needed another drink soon. A few fields were outstanding and had good soil moisture. One field in particular was the best wheat I have seen since 2012. It was a field of Ruby Lee that was at GS 10 and had been sprayed on 15-Mar because of reports of severe stripe rust in the area and in northern Texas to the south. A 20 ft strip of unsprayed wheat was left on the outside of the north and west side of the field because of power lines and wind. This strip served as an excellent control to indicate the effect of the spray. The line between sprayed and not- sprayed was visible from the road and even more evident in the field (see photos). Within the not-sprayed strip, flag leaves were green with leaves beneath the flag hit hard with stripe rust (see photos). The field was sprayed a second time on 05-Apr because it has such good potential. Leaves in the sprayed area are completely green. I have difficulty explaining the complete lack of stripe rust on the flag leaves in the not-sprayed area. Likely the flag leaves were not yet emerged at the time of the first spray and then conditions after spraying did not allow spread of stripe rust to them. However, in talking to Aaron and Mark it seems there were conditions after the 15-Mar spraying that would have been conducive for spread of stripe rust. At any rate, this is an excellent example of how a timely spray did a tremendous job of protecting yield potential.

Stripe rust – note yellow cast to wheat in foreground that changes to deep green about halfway into phot

Signs of stripe rust were present in the lower canopy, but stripe rust was not present on flag leaves

Fungicide-treated Ruby Lee in the same field as above photos

Other diseases observed across the Oklahoma include wheat streak mosaic, which has been detected in samples from several places including around Stillwater and from Noble County just north of Payne County (where Stillwater is located). However, I have not received indication yet of severe WSM; part of this may be related to the drought in western OK where WSM is typically more common. Recently samples from northwestern OK are beginning to come into the diagnostic lab, but results from some of those samples are still pending.

Reports/excerpts of reports from other states:

Texas Dr. Charlie Rush (Professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Amarillo) 3-Apr-2015: “I haven’t checked all fields as closely as those around Bushland but there are a lot of GB and Russian wheat aphids as well as bird cherry.  Russian seems predominate in my fields.  We sprayed last week but will likely sustain significant yield loss from not spraying earlier.  I suspect we’ll start getting lots of calls and samples that end up being BYDV, although some WSM is also showing up.  Mild winter with more moisture than last few years has resulted in a crop that has looked very promising up to now but without good subsoil moisture what we had in the upper layers of the soil profile is disappearing fast and obvious symptoms of drought are beginning to appear.”