Some calls to my office this week had some of my co-workers excited. People were calling in wanting to know, when is the fly-free date? Unfortunately this refers to the best time to plant wheat not a give-away from the airlines.

The last few years we have seen a renewed interest in wheat in Central Illinois. Over the last ten years wheat acreage in Illinois's East Crop reporting district has more than tripled. Yields over the last 10 years have averaged 75 bushels per acre. Some other reasons wheat has gotten more growers attention include; higher prices, better varieties, relatively low input costs, spreading risk, and summer cash income.

If you haven't grown wheat in several years you may want to do some research on varieties. Check out the University of Illinois's Variety Testing results at http://vt.cropsci.uiuc.edu/wheat.html. One of the main differences between wheat varieties is their resistance to diseases. Wheat diseases are primarily a function of stress and weather. A cool wet spring will bring on one set of diseases and an exceptionally warm spring will bring on a different set. Look for varieties with a lot of resistance and a good yield history over several years.

The fly-free date I mentioned earlier refers to an insect pest of wheat called the Hessian Fly. If you plant wheat prior to the fly-free date your crop is more likely to attacked by this pest. Planting after this date, not only avoids problems with Hessian Fly, it enables you to miss several other diseases and insects as well and should provide for the proper amount of growth to maximize winter survival. In East-Central Illinois this date ranges from September 25 in the north to October 6 in the south.

Modern drills do a good job of planting wheat. A seeding rate of 30 to 35 seeds per square foot will generally produce maximum yields. No-till drills generally produce excellent results. The key with no-till is to make sure previous crop residue was evenly spread and dry. No-till seeding rates may need to be slightly higher than for tilled fields

Modern wheat varieties respond well to nitrogen. The recommended total nitrogen rate for best wheat yields is: on dark soils with greater than 3 percent organic matter, 50-70 lbs.; on medium soils with 2 to 3 percent organic matter, 70-90 lbs.; and on light soils with less than 2 percent organic matter 90-110 lbs. A portion of that nitrogen, 30-40 lbs., should be applied in the fall to enhance fall growth. The whole amount can be fall applied with the addition of a nitrification inhibitor if a split application is undesirable. The split application however allows the grower to evaluate the stand as it comes out of the winter and to adjust nitrogen rates accordingly.