News
Stripe rust moving toward small grains in Upper Midwest and Northern Plains
An annual threat to small grains is moving north out of the Great Plains.
University of Minnesota Extension agronomist Jochum Wiersma says the first traces of stripe rust were recently found in the southern part of his state.
“Stripe rust is a disease that has been pretty prevalent in the southern winter wheat states, and we’ve had some southerly wind events bring this up.”
Stripe rust is also referred to as yellow rust even though the striping is more orange in color. He tells Brownfield small pustules will appear in a linear fashion along leaf veins.
“And you can really tell once it starts sporulating you can actually rub those spores on your finger.”
Wiersma says stripe rust is most likely to appear in winter wheat right now but could make it into spring wheat too.
He says a fair amount of wheat varieties have resistance to the disease, and a lot of fungicides are very effective if stripe rust makes it to the bottom of the canopy.
