Oklahoma Wheat Freeze Injury Mostly Cosmetic

First posted on 01-25-2010

The record low temperatures and high winds of late December and early January have many Oklahoma producers with late-sown wheat wondering how well their crop weathered the storm.

“Most of the Oklahoma wheat fields survived the cold snap with only cosmetic damage,” said Jeff Edwards, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension small grains specialist.

After looking at fields in central Oklahoma and speaking with OSU Cooperative Extension area agronomists, Edwards said large wheat is showing the most visual injury symptoms, with upper leaves almost completely desiccated.

Smaller wheat does not look as bad as larger wheat, at first glance. However, on a percentage leaf area basis, small wheat lost more leaf area due to cold injury than larger wheat.

“The primary issue with late-sown wheat remains the lack of sufficient tillering,” Edwards said. “We’ll need adequate moisture and temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to encourage these plants to produce a few tillers before jointing in early March.”

There is still plenty of time for adequate tillering to occur, but conditions will need to be more favorable for wheat growth than what was experienced around the holidays. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the snow was blown away from wheat fields, so this moisture was not moved into the soil profile.

“It’s likely that temperatures were cold enough for long enough to reduce the amount of leaf rust spores present in fields,” Edwards said. “Hopefully, new spores will not be blown in over the coming months.”

Current general OSU recommendations are for wheat growers to continue to focus on scouting for insects and accurately assessing topdress nitrogen requirements.