Nidhi Rawat, Small grains Pathologist
University of Maryland, College Park
Wheat in the Eastern Shore of Maryland is flowering or will do so in a couple of days. With this week’s rains, and more showers coming our way, the risk of Fusarium Head has increased significantly in this part of the state. Growers are advised to spray head scab fungicides (Prosaro/ Caramba/ Miravis-Ace) at wheat flowering (50% of the main tillers showing yellow anthers) or within 4-5 days of this stage. These fungicides do not need to be tank-mixed with another product for spraying. The fungicide products should be applied at the full rate recommended by the manufacturers. Strobilurin containing fungicides should not be sprayed at this stage. Aerial application at a rate of 5 gallons per acre or ground application at 15 gallons per acre with 300-350 um droplet size is recommended. Spray nozzles should be angled at 30°-45° down from horizontal, toward the grain heads, using forward- and backward mounted nozzles or nozzles with a two-directional spray, such as Twinjet nozzles. Up in the North, wheat is booting and still roughly around 1-2 weeks away from flowering.
