Wednesday, November 24, 2010

First Note - 2011 Winter Wheat Workshops

As you plan your 2011 winter meeting schedule, this is a first note to say that we will again be offering our winter wheat workshops that have been taught in 2009 and 2010, respectively. We have locked in dates and tentative locations (i.e., counties) with more details to follow.

Currently the workshops as scheduled for:

March 30: Jefferson County
March 31: Wood County
April 1: Kewaunee County

We have decided to take a slightly different approach with the presentation of workshop material for the 2011 program under the heading, "The Timeline of Decisions for Wheat Management". We look forward to offering a very hands-on program for these workshops and hope that you are interested in the program!

We will provide more details over the next month or so as details are finalized.

Happy Holidays!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Survey Request - Fusarium Head Blight Prediction Center

Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat has been an important problem in Wisconsin with regional disease outbreaks occurring between 2007-10. The disease causes significant yield loss and damaged grain is often contaminated with the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), commonly known as vomitoxin. The disease is best managed through a combination variety resistance, and timely application of fungicides when weather conditions elevate the risk of disease development. In recent years, there has been considerable effort to predict the risk of FHB and the need for fungicide applications in wheat. The web-based prediction tools provide daily estimates of disease risk for 25 states east of the Rocky Mountains. This multi-state effort requires considerable resources to maintain, and scientists involved in the project would like to gather some input to justify continued investment of time, computing resources and funds needed to sustain the effort.

If you have used these tools during the 2010-growing season, we would like to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to complete this on-line survey that will help us evaluate, improve, and maintain the system.

The survey is available here.

Note: If you have trouble with the link, please use the following webpage:

http://www.hostedsurvey.com/takesurvey.asp?c=2010Us121326