Wheat problems show up early

I've received a few heads-ups from agronomists about potential problems in the winter wheat. It seems that manganese deficiency is being seen in a number of fields and growers are being urged to correct the problem as quickly as possible. When a deficiency shows up - in this case there's a noticeable yellowing in the plants in some areas of the field - you will need at least a pound of actual manganese to correct it, agronomists tell me. That means using an actual manganese foliar product, not one of those "shotgun"-type micronutrient products that give you a little of everything. Soil-applied products are also not good enough.
Some farmers are reporting the problem between the tire tracks but not over the tracks themselves. The way the agronomists explain it to me is that manganese turns into a form that's not available to plants when soils are warm and have lots of oxygen. In the compacted areas there's less oxygen and the manganese remains plant-available.
Once the roots start probing deeper into the soil that problem won't exist anymore.
Cargill agronomy manager Leanne Freita called a week ago to say that powdery mildew and septoria were both being seen early in the wheat crop this year.
Today she emailed to say scouts are finding cereal leaf beetles feeding "at significant levels in Huron County and trace to low levels in the Tillsonburg area." Both adults and eggs have been found, but no larvae.
Eggs are orange to brown and are laid on the upper surface of the leaf in singles or pairs. The adults are tough to see because they fly as soon as you go near them, she says.
It might a good idea to get off the planter for a few minutes, just to check on the wheat.