Wheat, Alfalfa Damage from Freeze Varies

Wheat, Alfalfa Damage from Freeze Varies

April 13, 2007

Damage in eastern Nebraska
Wheat kinks
Wheat plants kinked over have some agronomists concerned about the potential for trapped heads when new growth resumes.
Photo of damaged fields
Damage varied throughout fields and farms.
Photo of damaged field
Row after row of wheat in this southeast Nebraska field was laid flat by several days of hard freezes.
Frost-damaged field near Lincoln
Frost-damaged alfalfa field near Lincoln.

Friday morning 20 UNL specialists and educators from across the state joined in a phone discussion of current crop issues. Not surprisingly, the top concern is how wheat and alfalfa fields across the state fared after the recent freezes. Following are the highlights and some of the reports. Photos are mostly from field surveys in eastern Nebraska. 

  • The freeze flattened alfalfa and wheat fields in many areas.
  • Continued cool weather is delaying plant reaction and complicating assessment and decisions.
  • It will be difficult to determine the full degree of damage until temperatures are consistently warmer. Specialists caution producers to wait to see if fields recover as temperatures increase.
  • If you're trying to decide whether to replant, be sure to consider previous herbicide applications; seed costs; crop insurance agreements, and production contracts before tearing out a field.
  • Wheat which hadn't jointed and alfalfa whose growing point was still below the ground are likely to recover, although that will vary a lot, depending on the microclimate of the field, crop hybrid, available water and general health of the plant pre-freeze.
  • Producers are getting antsy to get into the field, but as cold, wet conditions persist, a little patience may mean fewer compaction problems later.

After a survey of fields in southeast Nebraska, Paul Hay, Extension Educator in Gage County, described them as "the good, the bad, and the ugly."

He estimated that about 20% of the fields he surveyed were planted late and were in relatively good condition with growing points at ground level and little damage except for a few burned leaves.

A smaller group — 10% — constituted the "bad" fields which were planted early and had 7-8 inches of growth; growing points don't look good and plant health is likely to deteriorate. Earlier in the week, one of these fields survived and was standing, but is now flat. Plants feel like rubber.

The third and largest group he described as "ugly." Damage varied from burned tops and minor leaf injury to whole tops of the plants frosted back. He notes that if the growing point is okay, the plant may survive although it will have to push the growing point up through dead tissue. This may cause some head kinks, but it will probably come out of it at some point and produce 34-40 bu/ac wheat rather than the 50-60 bu/ac that had been expected.

Western and West Central Nebraska with Bill Booker, Drew Lyon and Bob Klein: Wheat is coming out and looking pretty good, although wind damage has been a problem. Most of the wheat hadn't jointed yet and may've escaped serious damage. Leaf tips will be burned, but serious losses aren't expected. Wheat fields looking the worse were planted late and had little food reserve to face the multiple stresses of winter, wind and the spring freeze. This was the warmest March at North Platte in the last 100 years -- almost 9 degrees above average. With cooler temperatures, it might be good for wheat to slow down a little. If we get May freezes that would really cost us. Alfalfa doesn't have a lot of growth, but in some areas it sustained considerable damage. While damp soil is delaying fieldwork, soil moisture is still limited in many areas, especially where weeds weren't controlled last summer.

Central Nebraska with Randy Pryor, Ralph Anderson and Dave Stenberg: Alfalfa was 6-10 inches tall before the freeze; now the plants are white and initial stems have collapsed flat to the ground. Healthy stands are apt to come back , but recovery may be slow. Producers should allow some warm up before fully assessing stands. Wheat didn't get hit too hard, unless it had been fertilized. Dryland wheat fields looking at 60-70 bu/ac yields in March are looking pretty bad. In some areas alfalfa had been two to three weeks ahead of normal but is flat now. Producers are getting antsy, especially those seeding alfalfa or with additional corn acres this year. Some planting was reported, but generally it's too wet to get into the field. It's too wet to plant here.

Eastern Nebraska with Keith Glewen, Aaron Nygren, Gary Lesoing, Tom Dorn, Paul Hay and Mark Bernards: Wheat planted after soybean (after Oct. 15) was not as developed as wheat planted earlier. Later planted wheat looks anemic and could do with a good shot of nitrogen fertilizer. Damage to the wheat was quite variable from field to field (probably variety to variety), even for fields less than a mile apart. In the southeast, conditions for wheat and alfalfa were much like those across the state and varied. Field surveys indicate that in some areas where wheat and alfalfa had been flourishing due to warmer temperatures in March, plants flat to the ground may not survive. Producers had been able to so some stalk chopping early in the week, but it's still too wet for most activity. Some wheat in the area had jointed and is likely dead. The area had reported significant increases in wheat planting. The silver lining to the recent weather may be that many small weeds were killed, although larger winter annuals survived.

Northeast Nebraska with Ralph Kulm, Del Hemsath and Keith Jarvi: Crops were running behind the rest of the state and really hadn't started significant spring growth. We're not expecting a lot of damage from the freeze. Generally most alfalfa wasn't far enough along to cause long-term damage. Cool-season pasture grasses may have been damaged and cattle producers may need to consider a later turnout date. It's been too cold for field work.

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A field of corn.