Damon L. Smith, Field Crops Extension Pathologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This week I scouted winter wheat in research trials located at the Arlington Agricultural research station. Wheat in the southern part of Wisconsin is starting to green up a bit. In this location snow cover was pretty consistent throughout the very cold winter months. Survival of wheat plants was pretty good with the consistent snow cover. I was worried about snow mold development given the duration of snow cover this year, however, none was observed in this location.
I did observe Septoria leaf blotch on a few of the plants in these plots already this season. It is possible that the fungus infected these plants last fall, and the pathogen was able to overwinter. Regardless of when these initial infections took place, this is a disease we need to scout for now and keep track of through the season.
To read the whole article, click >> http://fyi.uwex.edu/fieldcroppathology/