Nidhi Rawat, Small Grains Pathologist
University of Maryland, College Park
With the recent showers in the state, the risk of Fusarium Head Blight appears to be high. In the Eastern Shore and the Southern part of the state wheat is flowering/towards the end of flowering. Growers with their wheat still flowering or are within a window of 4-5 days of flowering are advised to spray head scab fungicides (Prosaro, Caramba, Miravis Ace). 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. In the Northern counties, we are still around 7-10 days away from flowering.
