Due to wet soils and a late spring, many wheat and barley fields are maturing late this year in North Carolina.  The FHB forecasting website shows medium to high risk across the Coastal Plain and Tidewater, but keep in mind the risk prediction is for wheat flowering today (or your chosen assessment date).  Most small grain fields in North Carolina are in the jointing phase.  Monitor your scab risk closely when your wheat is heading and your barley is in the boot.  Wheat is susceptible to scab when it flowers.  Barley is susceptible when heads emerge from the boot.  Those are the growth stages at which to apply a scab-targeted fungicide IF risk is medium or high.

-- Christina Cowger, Small Grains Pathologist, USDA-ARS and North Carolina State University

For more details, go to the FHB Risk assessment tool at http://www.wheatscab.psu.edu

For the latest news and updates from the U.S. Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative, go to https://www.scabusa.org