Timely informaTion

Diseases can greatly lower wheat yield and grain quality. Leaf rust, Stagnospora (Septoria) glume blotch, Septoria leaf blotch, and powdery mildew have historically been the most damaging diseases on wheat in Alabama. Stripe rust has recently emerged in the Deep South as a very destructive disease of wheat. Field cropping history, cultivar selection, and weather patterns all have a tremendous impact on disease outbreaks in wheat. Typically, warmer and wetter late winter and early spring weather patterns favor damaging disease outbreaks while drier conditions slow the onset and spread of all the above diseases.