04/25/06 Stripe rust confirmed in E. Wash.

Farm and Ranch April 25, 2007 A new stripe rust update from Xianming Chen of the Agricultural Research Service at Pullman, Washington, reports confirmation of the disease in winter wheat in the Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla areas in Washington state. Chen says fungicides only provide about 30 days of protection for stripe rust so if dryland producers want to get by with only one fungicide application they should wait awhile before spraying. Chen: "So if they spray right now they will leave a considerably long period without protection from the chemical. That can cause much more damage. So if they wait a little bit, for example to the boot stage, the heading stage, they will get their crop maximally protected." Chen says if varieties susceptible to stripe rust are grown under irrigation, and/or have high yield potential, growers may consider applying fungicides when they see about 10% rust severities and a second application may be needed before heading. Chen has received a report of stripe rust in an Eltan field near Odessa, Washington, which has to be confirmed. He says infections last year showed the seedling resistance of Eltan to stripe rust was breaking down but the varieties high-temperature adult-plant resistance is still effective. So, stripe rust can occur on seedlings of Eltan, but the adult-plant resistance will be more and more effective as the plants grow older and the weather becomes warmer. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.