New OSU wheat releases & yield trials

New OSU Variety Releases Kaseberg and Ladd

Kaseberg is a 2012 soft white winter wheat release. It is primarily adapted to dryland and irrigated production areas of western and eastern Oregon, southeastern and south central Washington. Its strengths are excellent yield potential across a range of rainfall zones, resistant to current races of stripe rust at a level similar to Skiles, medium stature, a maturity date similar to Legion and Skiles, and to top it all off – excellent milling and baking quality for our end customers.

Weaknesses of note for Kaseberg is that it is similar to Stephens in the disease package – it is susceptible to strawbreaker footrot, Cephalosporium stripe, Fusarium crown rot, and Soilborne Wheat Mosaic Virus.

Ladd is a second new soft white winter wheat release for OSU in 2012. It is primarily adapted to dryland and irrigated production areas of eastern Oregon and southeastern and south central Washington. It is an excellent yielder under irrigation and high rainfall. It is resistant to Soilborne Wheat Mosaic Virus, and strawbreaker footrot. It is moderately resistant to current races of stripe rust – similar to Legion. It is short stature with a maturity similar to Tubbs 06. Both new releases are open releases with PVP pending.

2012 Oregon Soft White Winter Elite Yield Trials

Jacob & Micheal Hales celebrate successful harvest!!

On my website, you will find yield trial results from across the region, and it is updated with new information as it is available. For Umatilla County there is excellent info from an irrigated trial in Hermiston, and dryland trials from east of Pendleton and east of Milton Freewater. The Rugg site did not have any irrigation before or during the season. The Milton Freewater site is a new location. The notes on each location are important for putting the data in perspective. The severe lodging and late season lodging impacted yields at the Milton Freewater site, while the Hermiston location had very little stripe rust. The Hermiston site was impacted by Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. If you are planning to seed early this fall, I recommend seed treatment for the control of aphids as BYDV can have a significant impact on yields. We have seen increased fall flights of aphids with the increased acreages of field corn in the area and would expect that trend to continue if we have an open and extended fall.

Result from my Drill Strip Variety trial at Hales near Midway will also be available online and are in my newsletter that we are mailing hard copies of today.

 

Early seeded canola gains traction in Oregon

  Early seeded canola – now why didn’t I think of that? Thankfully, Oregon State University Soil Scientist Don Wysocki has never given up on canola, even when acreages dropped and prices were in the tank. The result of his dedication, and perhaps just plain stubbornness, is the idea of seeding winter canola in June, instead of August and September, and this idea has gotten some traction in the region.

 Don first seeded canola in June and again in July of 2010 in a trial at Pendleton on non-irrigated land. He presented his research trials testing the idea in June 2011, and has continued the research project in 2012.

  Preliminary results from the 2010-11 trial were promising with the June seeding yielding in the 2500-3000 lb. range. The June 17^th seeding had a good stand, while the July 7^th seeding had a spotty stand but still resulted in positive yields. These results confirmed again what Don already knew – that if you can get a stand established before September 20^th you general will have a good yield. Delay seeding until October 1^st waiting for moisture and the yield potential drops by 30%. This research vastly expands the window for successful seeding winter canola. Fields generally have good soil moisture in June.

  These preliminary results have resulted in some growers experimenting with the idea in their fields. We have observed a few things to date worthy of note:

• A uniform stand is desirable, but plants in an erratic stand have the ability to branch and fill in over time. Average plant populations as low as 2 plants/sq. ft. can produce full yields when planted early.  Stands of 4 plants/sq. ft. are ideal,
• There is no effective broad leaf weed control in canola, so time of early planting and field selection are important.  The target is to plant while there is still good seed zone water, but avoid the flush of Russian thistle or kochia.  Also avoid fields where these weeds have been a significant problem,
• Aphids may buildup in the summer or fall – but no treatment is recommended because those leaves will be lost during the winter any way,
• Flea beetles may be a problem at emergence, an insecticide seed treatment is an inexpensive method to avoid this, and
• When planting, be sure to plant winter type canola that has a vernalization requirement so bolting and bloom does not occur until after the winter period.

  Research has shown over the years that canola in a wheat fallow rotation has benefits for breaking disease cycles and provides an opportunity to do weed control of grassy weeds. With higher prices and a less risky seeding window, we may continue to see canola acreage increase around the area. ~Mary K Corp & Don Wysocki

For more information on canola - check out this Extension publication: Canola Production Guide

Wheat variety trials updates

Yield results from the OSU statewide variety trials continue to come in. Results from the Lexington site are now available at my Cereal Central website.

As a clarification on last week's post, it appears that I misspoke and that indeed the trials at Hermiston did not include an insecticide in the seed treatment. If you are seeding early in the fall, I do recommend using an insecticide treatment on your seed.

The last couple of years we have seen an increase of aphid flights. With the increase of corn fields distributed widely throughout the irrigated acres in the region- we are likely to see continuing pressure from aphids which act as transmitters of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus.