Winter Survival of Winter Wheat in 2003/04

Based on the reports that I have received this spring, most winter wheat survived the winter quite well, even though conditions for winter wheat establishment was less than ideal last fall and temperatures quite severe during the winter. In most regions of the state good snow cover protected the crop during the coldest months of the winter. Nevertheless, this spring I have passed a number of fields where the winter wheat crop looked ragged. In all cases, these fields had little or no previous crop residue to aid in holding snow. The following photo is an example of poor winter survival of a winter wheat crop grown where there was limited previous crop residue.

There are a number of factors that affect winter wheat survival, including planting date, temperatures during the winter and early spring, variety, snow cover, fall growth, soil phosphorus levels, etc. In most years, the two most important and easily managed factors are variety and crop residue. I recently evaluated the winter survival of winter wheat varieties that I planted last fall in two location, one in 8 inch tall wheat stubble the other in soybean stubble. Table 1 summarizes the winter survival of selected varieties in these two locations.

Table 1. Percent winter wheat survival of selected varieties grown near Casselton (soybean residue) and Lisbon (wheat residue) 2003/04 (ranked by highest average survival to lowest average survival).

These data clearly demonstrate the importance of both variety and crop residue on winter survival. The varieties released by either North Dakota State University (Elkhorn, Jerry, Ransom and Roughrider) or Canadian institutions (CDC Raptor, CDC Falcon, McClintock, and Norstar) tended to be the most winter hardy. Varieties developed for Nebraska (Arapahoe, Goodstreak, Harry, Jagalene, Millennium, Nekota, Nuplains, Wesley, and Wahoo), tended to be the least winter hardy and those developed in Montana and South Dakota, were somewhat intermediate. Winter survival, moreover, averaged 14% greater in Lisbon where the plots were planted in wheat stubble than in Casselton, where soybean was the previous crop. The following photo illustrates the difference in winter survival of two varieties in Casselton in 2004.

Winter wheat has the capacity to tiller heavily and fill in if stands are sub-optimal. Currently, we recommend that you consider planting a spring crop if your winter wheat stands fall below 5-11plants/ft² . This compares to 8-14 plants/ft² for spring wheat.

If you are planning on planting winter wheat this fall, make sure you select a winter hardy variety and if possible, plant your winter wheat following a crop with sufficient residue to catch and hold at least 2 inches of snow.

Joel Ransom

Extension Agronomist - Cereal Crops

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