Where should wheat varieties resistant to soilborne viruses be planted?
A. Delta counties north of I-40 (northeast Arkansas) have been the hot spot for soilborne viruses in the past. However, one or both of the soilborne viruses have shown up in other areas of Arkansas. Soilborne mosaic can be very serious on wheat in Arkansas with 100 percent loss in severely affected fields. Spindle streak mosaic appears to cause significant loss only when the weather stays cool into April and symptoms persist for a long time. Under most conditions where only spindle streak is involved, the plants will grow out of the disease and look pretty normal by harvest. We obtained a lot of resistance data last year from our variety test in Jackson and Clay counties in Arkansas, so we know there are a lot of good varieties with resistance to both soilborne mosaic and spindle streak mosaic, so why take the chance? Q. What is the effect of planting really early instead of within recommended planting dates with respect to disease control? A. Compared to early plantings, later plantin
