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Wheat quality becoming a concern

The recent stretch of wet weather in parts of Ohio is causing problems in wheat.

In Crawford County, north central Ohio, OSU Extension educator Jason Hartschuh says not only is harvest being delayed, but the quality of the wheat is being impacted.

“There’s a section of the county that received hail early on, so that wheat was already damaged and not is as good of shape, so some of that wheat is being infected even worse than the rest of it,” said Hartschuh. “In some of the fields that were not treated with a fungicide, those guys are now seeing, because of the late harvest that’s being pushed back with the wet weather, are starting to see possibilities of vomitoxin problems in the wheat.”

Hartschuh says the delayed wheat harvest and wet fields is also causing concerns for those considering double crop soybeans.

“Normally we do have quite a few guys that double crop, but right now they’re really thinking twice,” Hartschuh said. “Not only are they having trouble getting the wheat off, the next problem is the ground has to be dry enough to be able to plant the beans, even though you want lots of moisture, too much can cause problems.”

Audio: Jason Hartschuh, Extension educator, Crawford Co. Ohio (5:10 mp3)