Agricultural News
April 15th Freeze Was a KIller of 2020 Wheat Crop Across Southwestern Oklahoma
Mon, 27 Apr 2020 17:02:04 CDT
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays sat down in Stillwater with OSU Small Grains Extension Specialist Dr. Amanda Silva on Monday morning, as she was releasing her latest blog on the freeze damage that she and other OSU extension personnel have seen south of I-40 and west of I-35. Their complete conversation about the freeze damage as well as more details about the virtual wheat tours that have been released thus far can be heard by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
According to Dr. Silva in her blog on the freeze damage that ocurred on April 15th-
"As the weather warmed up last week the damage from the latest freeze event (on April 15) is starting to show in some areas of Oklahoma. A lot of wheat fields were at the flowering stage when the freeze came in, and the near the wheat is to flowering the more sensitive it is to freezing temperatures.
"Most of the damage we are seeing is death of the flower parts followed by head discoloration. Temperatures got cold enough to kill the flower parts but not the cells in the green tissue, so it is taking a little bit longer for the rest of the plant to start showing the damage. The male parts (anthers) have a pale color and are dead inside of the glume, they are supposed to be green and turgid. In cases where pollination had already occurred when the freeze came in, we could see berries being formed, but those berries are shriveled and dried out.
"I went to Chickasha on Monday (April 20) and found a few varieties lodged and with head starting to turn colors. I went back on Friday (April 24) with the Senior Agriculturalist of our program Robert Calhoun, and wow, we got hit! Mesonet station reported that our field spent 5 hours at 30F, and that was more than enough to harm our blooming wheat. There was a visual difference between early vs. late maturing varieties in our trial, but we will be able to truly assess differences from freeze-damage among varieties in the coming days. Other symptoms we found on severely damaged plants was lodging followed by enlarged nodes and split stems.
"We found a few wheat fields with up to 100% loss from freeze damage at Garvin county. According to Mesonet, the county experienced about 6 hours at 29F. Secondary tillers were also damaged.
Caddo county spent 6 hours at 27F and wheat fields are just now starting to turn, but the heads are blank with no grain being formed and anthers are dead. At some those fields, secondary tillers were less affected than the heads from the main tillers and were blooming
"We were not able to find freeze injury in wheat fields at Kingfisher and Canadian counties as of April 23, but we will certainly look at more fields in those areas again this week.
Gary Strickland checked about 15 fields on the west side of Jackson county and found from 40 to 70% damage. He also reported more severe damage on the east side of the county ranging from 70 to 100% in the fields checked.
"Dr. Todd Baughman checked about 30-40 fields in the Tillman County area and reported an average of 50% wheat loss due to freeze damage, but some fields were at 100% loss. I have also heard from producers that some wheat fields are severely damaged at Cotton County."
Click here for the complete blog with pictures provided by Dr. Silva.
As for the two virtual wheat tours that have been released- click on the play button in the first video box to see the Altus Tour- click on the play button in the second video box to see the Chickasha Tour.
Again- click on the PLAY BUTTON below to listen to our complete conversation with Dr. Amanda Silva about the freeze damage she has scouted in southwestern Oklahoma.
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