The late harvest of most crops is also making for a late planted wheat crop. This has several potential implications related to insect control.
- It is unlikely that Hessian flies will get a good foothold on wheat this fall, which should mean minimal problems for this crop. Thus, if you intended to use an insecticide seed treatment, there is little value to using the maximum labeled rates that are suggested to help suppress Hessian flies.
- Fall and winter populations of aphids in wheat should be pretty low in Tennessee, and fall control of aphids will likely have less value than usual. Although insecticide seed treatments may still have some value, my experience suggests that a foliar approach where insecticide is applied in late winter (e.g., February) will be just as good or a better option on a late planted crop.
I’ve made more detailed comments in previous articles including the one linked here: https://news.utcrops.com/2013/09/wheat-insect-control-begins-with-planting/.
