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QPlant protectionWhat are the most dangerous diseases and pests of wheat, and what can I do to prevent them?
Expert answer
In short: Most diseases and pests are prevented with resistant varieties, rotation, a clean field and moderate nitrogen.
- Diseases: powdery mildew, rusts (brown, yellow), septoria, fusarium, smuts and bunts, take-all (black root rot), viruses (wheat streak mosaic, barley yellow dwarf).
- Pests: sunn pest, cereal ground beetle, frit fly and Hessian fly, aphids, cereal leaf beetle, voles.
- General preventive measures: resistant varieties; a 2–4-year crop rotation; healthy seed; destroying volunteer plants and grass weeds; optimal sowing date and seed rate; no excess nitrogen, which makes plants more susceptible to mildew and rusts.
- In a warm, wet autumn, move sowing to the second half of the optimal window (against viruses spread by aphids).
Material: Brochure 2, sections "Key diseases" and "Key pests" (with photos of the symptoms).