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Now What? Next Steps After Frost Damage
Maximizing Yield Components Through Crop Stress
After a hard cold event, it is important to remember that you can still impact 2 of the 3 Yield Components - Grains per Head and Weight per Grain.
Right now especially, it is increasingly important that we are feeding the crop WHAT it needs, WHEN it needs it. The foliar nutrition package of Rally, by The McGregor Company, provides vital nutrients necessary for compromised crops to recover quickly.
Many PNW crops are experiencing cell wall bursting and open tissues, which are exposed to a host of disease-causing pathogens. Foliar nutrition will be key in order to help new tertiary roots hit below-ground fertility as soon as possible.
Plant health fungicides + foliar nutrition at herbicide timing will act as a vitamin shot to help the plant put on the growth it has missed in the last two weeks and protect the crop for the long haul. Using both a contact and systemic fungicide for multimode of action will be needed to maintain plant health this growing season.
Now what?! Management decisions for frost damaged wheat in April from The McGregor Company on Vimeo.
Here's what needs to be considered in order to encourage plant regrowth
Urea-Based Nitrogen
Urea-based nitrogen (not nitrate-based) is important because it is easier for the plant to assimilate (absorb) and encourages movement into the roots. Urea is softer, so there will also be less leaf burn. This is particularly important after a cold event where the leaf cuticles have already been exposed.
Potassium
Potassium helps the plant upregulate defense systems and is important in repairing cell wall structure at a time when plant cell walls have been damaged.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential component for chlorophyll and is generally limiting nutrient in PNW soils. This nutrition will encourage quick plant green-up.
Zinc
Zinc is a primary element in the auxin pathway and a critical component for root and stand health.
Rally, by The McGregor Company, is a foliar nutrition product with a combination of urea-based nitrogen, potassium, chloride, and magnesium. Using this product with a zinc supplement alongside your fungicide application at herbicide timing will help to protect compromised crops.