Stripe rust growth slow but widespread
Farm and Ranch April 19, 2011 A new stripe rust update from ARS scientist Xianming Chen says the disease continues to develop in the Pacific Northwest, though cool temperatures are making for slow growth of the rust. Chen checked winter wheat fields in northern Idaho and eastern and central Washington last week and says 70 percent of the fields he scouted had stripe rust. Western and northeastern Oregon and southern Idaho have also reported the disease. Chen says many wheat growers have used fungicide in their herbicide application and that is his continued recommendation in fields where rust can be found. He says that is necessary even in fields that will yield only 45 bushels an acre as rust could cause 40-50 percent yield losses. Since it is so early in the season we asked Chen in a previous interview if farmers may have to make a second fungicide application. It depends on the weather. Chen: “If the weather conditions get to normal or above normal temperatures, then the adult plant high temperature resistance should work better than last year. But, if we have similar weather conditions in May and June in this year like last year, then this year the problem will be more worse than last year.” And right now the outlook at least through May looks very much like last year. There are hotspots of barley yellow dwarf virus in early planted fields in central Washington and Chen cautions growers not to confuse that with stripe rust. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.
