Winter Wheat

Last year’s wet conditions and high number of “prevent plant” acres spiked interest among wheat producers resulting in more winter wheat planted acres. Based on early reports this year’s winter wheat yields are quite satisfactory. This is likely to serve as an encouragement to growers to plant winter wheat again this fall.

To assist growers in locating a seed source of winter wheat, the North Dakota State Seed Department recently released names of seed growers whose 2012 seed passed the initial field inspections. Besides the Williston Research Extension Center, area growers whose names appear in this statewide list include Lee and James Garaas, Grenora; Nevin Dahl and the Signalness farm, both of Watford City.

The complete list of growers can be found at our website http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/williamscountyextension.

Grasshoppers

Reports of high grasshopper populations are beginning to come in. Fortunately most of our small grain crops are at a maturity stage when we can expect little damage to yields. The reports seem to indicate the grasshopper populations are limited to hot spots or localized areas.

As the small grain crops dry down and are harvested the grasshoppers will move to greener areas which need to be monitored. An economic level of adult grasshoppers is 21-40 per square yard in field margins and 8-14 per square yard in the interior of crops. The North Dakota Field Crop Insect Management Guide contains a list of registered insecticides for grasshoppers by specific crop.

Tree of the Week

This week I want to give some space and words on behalf of the European Mountain Ash. This is a small to medium-sized tree that is native to northern Europe and Asia. There are several species of Mountain Ash but the European (SorbusAucuparia) is the most widely planted.

The number of Mountain Ash is minimal when compared to green ash. Although Mountain Ash has some negatives, it can add some color to the home yard and be attractive to birds, especially after a hard fall frost.

Mountain Ash is a member of the Rose family thus susceptible to fireblight. Sunscald of tree trunks can also be a problem. Over the years I have seen more Mountain Ash damaged by sunscald than fireblight.

Mountain Ash can grow 20-30 feet in height and have a crown width of 15 to 25 feet. It does require some additional water in most western North Dakota environments. I like this tree because of its creamy white flowers in the spring and bright orange to red color of clustered berry-like fruit in the fall. The fruit can be a bit messy which discourages some homeowners.

There are several cultivated varieties of Mountain Ash. Some have more of a columnar form while others are oval in shape.

Some of the related species include American Mountain Ash, Oakleaf Mountain Ash, and Showy Mountain Ash. The American species is alkaline pH sensitive. The Showy species is native to eastern North America and is also sensitive to alkaline pH. The Oakleaf species is a hybrid and has sufficient hardiness in North Dakota.