We have come to the time of year where you should start to think about assessing your winter wheat crop. Here are some steps you should take to ensure your wheat will survive the season and produce a healthy, profitable, high-yielding crop:

1. Ensure you have given the crop enough time to recover from the winter cold; the crop should be assessed between May 15^th and 25^th, after spring seeding has been at least half completed.
2. On a warm day, remove a few plants from your winter wheat field.
3. Place the crowns of the plants on a wet paper towel and in a zip lock bag and leave them in a warm room that will be exposed to light for part of the day.
4. If your crown tissue is healthy, it will remain white and start to produce new roots; if your crown tissue is unhealthy, it will quickly turn brown.
5. Assess the plant stand of the field ensuring 20 to 30 plants per square foot for optimum yields; however, plant stands as low as 7 plants per square foot could still produce a yield of 47 bu/ac on average.
6. Re-seeding should only take place if an unacceptable plant stand has been assessed.

Check out our full spring assessment article to learn more.