Wheat Care

Discolored Horizontal Banding on Newly Emerged Wheat

Have you noticed that some of your newly emerged wheat has a bit of a yellowish look to it as you are driving by? Have you stopped to look closer at it?

I stopped to look at some wheat that was planted about two weeks ago. On closer inspection, the wheat has discolored bands (yellow and brownish-red) on the first leaf to emerge from the soil.

The plants looked like this:

Discolored Banding from temp stress

The banding on the leaf is from the temperatures swinging from very warm during the day to pretty cool at night. I also think some of the brownish-red spots are from damage from blowing sand and soil that we had last Sunday with the severe winds. There were differences across the field, with the most severe banding was on the edge of the field. This is because there was less residue from traffic in this area and more blowing soil and sand from the road.

The plants will become acclimated to the temperatures and will grow out of the banding symptoms as new leaves emerge. I did dig the plants and look at the roots - there are not many of them with this small of plants, but looked healthy. In this field, there is some moisture to help support the growth and development of new leaves.