STRATEGY A featured segment designed to share business- critical information to seed-selling professionals. Visit SeedWorld.com to download this department and other tools. Protect Wheat Yields As farmers nail down their winter wheat seed purchase, they’ll also need to determine if and what seed treatment should be included.Joe Funk jfunk@issuesink.com CEREALS ARE A diverse crop and the manage- ment options recommended for pest control are just as diverse. They are dependent upon the geography, needs of the farmer and key diseases. In that regard, pest control is quite different from soybeans or corn. When helping farmers prepare and plan pest control for their winter wheat crop, it’s important to get an accurate picture of the disease and insect pressure. Always keep geography top of mind. “If you’re in the Southern United States, disease and insect pressure will be different from the Pacific Northwest,” says Josh Kelley, Syngenta Cereals and Diverse Field Crops product lead in North America. “If you’re in a Northern Plains environ- ment, wireworms are going to be a key pest. You will also have soil- and seed-borne Fusarium.” From an insect standpoint, there can be very different insect spectrums, as well. Whether it is wireworms or aphids, they can all limit yield potential and restrict root health, predominantly in the case of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). Insects create openings into the plant, which make it susceptible to dis- eases and viruses that affect overall yield. Geography really dictates what seed treatments should be applied on the seed. In Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico in the Southern Plains geography where it is much drier, you will see more Rhizoctonia and more Fusarium with more aphid pressure and more Hessian fly. Hessian fly is also a prob- lem in southern climates. To help suppress Hessian fly, increase the rates of neonico- tinoids in your seed treatment. “With Cruiser, we promote maximum label rates,” Kelley says. “Hessian fly is more dominant in the Southeastern United States in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, and then over to the Carolinas on the East Coast. We see this pest from time to time in other areas, but Hessian fly is pre- dominantly a problem for the Southern U.S. geography. “As you move into the Northern Plains, or even into the Pacific Northwest, wire- worms are a huge issue — there are six species that are of economic importance.” Kelley says that old prairie ground really favors wireworm species where you can have significant yield losses of 50 percent to sometimes as much as 80 percent. “Products such as Cruiser (thiamethoxam), imidacloprid and clothianidin provide some protection on wireworms,” he says. Aphid Invasion “Aphids, depending on geog- raphy, can be an issue every year, or they may be an issue once every several years,” Kelley says. “The biggest chal- lenge with aphids is that they transmit BYDV.” The five species of aphids that can transmit BYDV are bird cherry-oat aphid, corn leaf aphid, English grain aphid, greenbug and rose-grass aphid. Kelley explains that wheat infested with BYDV will have undeveloped root systems. The disease decreases tillering and may also cause some delayed maturity. It’s not a problem every year, Kelley says, but by using strong chemistry on the seed, seed treatments will provide a level of insurance regardless of the environment. He shares that an application of Warrior II with Zeon Technology 36 / SEEDWORLD.COM OCTOBER 2018 Josh Kelley serves as Syngenta’s Cereals and Diverse Field Crops product lead. Andrew Friskop is North Dakota State University’s Extension cereal crop pathologist. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SYNGENTA.