By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It may be awhile yet before farmers know how much damage was done to the wheat crop during the intense cold snap.
“You can go out in the fields and cut the plants open and see what kind of damage there is,” Harvey County Extension Agent Ryan Flaming said, “but until the wheat actually matures out . . . that damage is usually not calculated until people run combines through the fields.”
Flaming says that how far along the crop was will go a long way to determining how much damage was done. He admits that waiting to see if the wheat is damaged carries some risks.
“It’s definitely a big risk,” Flaming said. “It depends on how far along the wheat was and what variety it was.”
Flaming says the more developed the wheat was, the more chance it has suffered damage. While many are watching for freeze damage, Flaming says the cool, wet weather is bringing another challenge to the crop.
“There’s been a lot of wheat streak mosaic in the area and that’s pretty deadly for your wheat crop,” Flaming said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of disease pressure, as cool and wet as we’ve been in the spring.”
If all goes as planned, the harvest should begin the middle of June, although the maturing of the crop is running a little behind average. Flaming says that might have saved some of the crop from the cold.
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