1.       2005 Soft Winter Wheat YIELD DATA from the WSU Variety Testing nursery at the St Andrews location averaged 87.5 bu/ac and represented a 25-30 bu/ac increase over historical average yields at this location. NOTE:  The St Andrews nursery was located approximately 5 miles west of Coulee City, WA (L. Tannenberg farm).

2.       This nursery was planted on 31 August 2004 into excellent soil moisture.  Fall 2004 GROWING CONDITIONS coupled with timely precipitation patterns in spring 2005 undoubtedly were ideal for winter wheat development in this region for the 2005 crop.

3.       Typically, this nursery is prone to moderate levels of SNOW MOLD that did not appear in 2004/2005 since snow cover did not last for extended (over 100 days) of time.  An example of snow mold impact is best represented in looking at ORCF 101 that is very susceptible to snow mold.  ORCF 101 was totally killed in 2004 at this location compared to a yield of 79.0 bu/ac in this year’s (2005) nursery. 

4.       STRIPE RUST was generally not an issue in this soft white winter wheat nursery. Stripe rust was observed on moderately susceptible varieties such as Edwin on a 2 June 2005 evaluation; however, high temperature, adult plant resistance was prevalent and stripe rust infections were negligible to non-existent.

5.       Average HEADING DATES were slightly earlier than the previous year (2 June in 2005 and 6 June in 2004).

6.       PLANT HEIGHT is indicative of the high yield values in 2005.  Average plant height of the varieties in the 2005 nursery was 40.1 inches compared to an average plant height of 32.9 inches in the 2004 nursery – nearly 8-9 inches taller in 2005.  Eltan averaged 42.0 inches compared to 33.8 inches in the 2005 and 2004 nurseries, respectively.   Both nurseries are located within 50 yards of each other – literally across the road in different fields.

7.       YIELD RANKING trends among varieties at this location remained fairly consistent with the historical yield rankings.  Some Club wheat varieties such as Edwin, Rely and Coda did not finish as high in yield rankings compared to previous years, probably a function of the 2005 growing conditions at St Andrews. On the other hand, Bruehl and Chukar were in the top six for yields. The majority of other varieties performed similar to previous years, except with high substantially higher yields in 2005.