Wheat planting season will soon be upon us and it is important to plan ahead before putting the first seed in the ground. The previous crop has a part to play in planting this year’s wheat. Insuring that the combine is set up properly to evenly distribute residue and trash is vital in establishing a good stand for big wheat next fall. Uneven distribution of residue and trash will lead to an inconsistent seed depth which can snowball into emergence, and most importantly head emergence timing. Planting into moisture is crucial for even emergence as well. Going over your drill and making sure all gauge depth wheels/guides are tight to the disc opener is very important. If they are not tight, there is a possibility of dry dirt moving from the soil surface into the seed trench and on the seed. This will leave the seed sitting in a band of dry dirt and without a rain there will be possibility of variable emergence.  Fertility is also very important in establishing a high yield potential wheat crop. Using a high quality seed placed fertilizer that is available for that wheat crop in the fall is mandatory for getting that crop off to the best start possible. The use of Micro Nutrients such as zinc in starters has also proven to be very beneficial in both root response and yield at the end of the day. At Alpine we can pre mix our ALPINE MicroBolt Zn in with our ALPINE G24 to give you a high quality homogeneous blended liquid starter to make sure your 2018 wheat has the potential to be your best wheat.

– Nick