Wheat in the Eastern Shore of Maryland is either flowering (50% of the main tillers showing yellow anthers) or will be flowering in a couple of days. This is the stage when the plants are most prone to FHB infection. Although the epidemiological models are predicting low risk currently, with the rains forecasted starting from this weekend, growers are advised to keep a close eye on the FHB risk over the coming days. In case the risk escalates, the recommended head scab fungicides are Prosaro/ Miravis-Ace/ Sphaerex or Prosaro-Pro. The applications should be made at wheat flowering or within 4-5 days after at full rates prescribed by the manufacturers. Strobilurin-containing fungicides should not be sprayed at this stage. In the northern counties, wheat is booting, and still roughly around 1-2 weeks away from flowering.

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