Wheat in the Eastern Shore of Maryland is flowering or will do so in a couple of days. Early varieties in the North are also flowering currently (Information: Mr. Andrew Kness, Harford County, UMD Extension). With this weeks rains, and more showers coming our way, the risk of Fusarium Head may increase, albeit not being high currently in the majority of the state. The FHB risk over Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties is catching up slowly. Growers with currently flowering wheat here may consider spraying head scab fungicides (Prosaro/ Prosaro-Pro/ Sphaerex/ Miravis-Ace). These fungicides do not need to be tank mixed with another product for spraying. The fungicide products should be applied at the full rate recommended by the manufacturers. Strobilurin containing fungicides should not be sprayed at this stage. Aerial application at a rate of 5 gallons per acre or ground application at 15 gallons per acre with 300-350 um droplet size is recommended. Spray nozzles should be angle d at 30-45 degrees down from horizontal, toward the grain heads, using forward- and backward-mounted nozzles or nozzles with a two directional spray, such as Twinjet nozzles. If your wheat is not flowering currently, you may want to wait to see how the weather and the risk unfolds over the next couple of weeks.

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