A severe frost in Kansas last week isn’t expected to cause extensive damage to the state’s winter wheat crop because the freeze hit at an opportune time.
“I just don’t believe there will be significant damage,” said Scott Olson, an extension agronomist with Kansas State University.
“If there is damage, the wheat will compensate and the farmer won’t be able to tell.”
The thermometer dropped to -11 C April 7 in Russell in north-central Kansas and to –6 C in Wichita farther south, according to the Wichita Eagle.
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However, Olson said the state’s wheat crop should survive the unusually cold temperatures because most of it was not jointed when the freeze hit.
“Timing can be everything,” Olson said. “If this freeze had happened two weeks from now, it would’ve been a completely differently story.”
Stacy Campbell, an agricultural extension agent in Ellis County in west-central Kansas, agreed, but said it’s hard to be certain because assessments of frost damage in the state are not complete.
However, based on conversations with other extension agents, the sense is that it’s nothing like 2007, when a killing April frost severely cut into the state’s wheat production.
“The wheat was not as far along this year, as it has been most years, so we think the damage will be pretty minimal,” Campbell said.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, only 20 percent of the state’s wheat was jointed April 6, the day before the frost. The average crop development for April 6 over the last five years is 34 percent jointing.
Cooler weather this spring and rain last fall delayed crop development, Campbell said.
“We had the wettest October on record at our experimental station in Hays,” she said.
“So there was a fair amount of wheat that had to be replanted. So it’s a little later.”
Rain over the Easter weekend will boost the Kansas wheat crop, Campbell added.
On April 13, the USDA reported that almost the entire state received precipitation last week, with more than 25 millimetres falling in many counties.
The USDA also rated the Kansas wheat crop as 44 percent fair and 33 percent good, which was similar to last week’s ratings before the frost. In 2008, in the second week of April, the crop was rated 35 percent fair and 37 percent good.
Farther south, rainfall also helped the wheat crop in Oklahoma. The USDA reported that an average of 33 mm of rain fell on the state last week, boosting the number of areas with adequate moisture to 60 percent from 48 percent.
DTN Meteorlogix forecaster Mike Palmerino told Reuters News Agency that the moisture should help Oklahoma’s wheat cope with frost, which hit the region April 7.
The combination of frost and moisture last week affected USDA’s rating for all winter wheat. On April 13 it reported that 14 percent of the crop is now poor, compared to 12 percent last week and 13 percent at this time last year.
This week 33 percent is fair, compared to 35 percent last week and 33 percent in 2008.
As well, 36 percent is rated as good this week, compared to 37 percent last week and 39 percent last year.
