Indiana Wheat Crop Facing challenges, but Yields Look Good
The Indiana wheat harvest will be late this year. Bill Mullen, agronomist with Seed Consultants, told HAT that the crop looks good overall, “I was in a field near Evansville last week and the crop really looked good, could yield 100 bpa. Then about 5 miles down the road was field that would be lucky to get 75 bpa. So there is a lot of variability out there.” He said the fields that got planted earlier last fall are doing better than some of the later planted fields
The excessive moisture this spring has caused some serious disease issues, according to Mullen, “I am seeing a lot of powdery mildew, probably the worst I have ever seen.” He added there is a lot a lot of head scab, especially on the later planted fields, “These are all problems by the wet weather and high humidity.”
He estimates most fields will be ready for harvest by July 4, and that will give growers south of I-70 a chance to put in a second crop of soybeans. He recommends growers harvest at 17%-20% moisture and plan on doing some drying. As for northern counties, he says the wheat will be too late to allow planting of a second crop of soybeans. He suggests these growers plant cover crops on the harvested wheat fields.