Welcome to the wheat and barley flowering season, Maryland! This is the first FHB risk forecast for this season from me, and I will continue to provide you with regular commentaries over the next 6-7 weeks.

Hopefully, you selected a resistant wheat variety for your planting this year after referring to the University of Maryland FHB evaluation of wheat varieties. A good start goes a long way in managing FHB. Unfortunately, for barley, there are no resistant varieties available so far. So, if you have planted barley, keep monitoring for the FHB risk over the next couple of weeks.

Barley is heading in the Eastern shore of the state currently. Because of the mostly dry weather so far, the risk of FHB is minimal right now. Wheat in the Eastern shore of Maryland is either at the jointing stage and should be heading out in a couple of weeks. So right now, wheat is not at a stage vulnerable to FHB. It is important to note that the correct stage for spraying fungicides on wheat is at flowering (when the yellow anthers start to show on the heads), whereas on barley it is at heading (when the heads emerge from the boots). On the western side of the shore in Frederick, Harford, and nearby counties, wheat plants are starting to joint, and are not at a stage prone to FHB infection.

--Nidhi Rawat, Small Grains Pathologist, University of Maryland