Knowing the various stages of growth and development of a wheat crop enables growers to exercise better management of inputs to be used at the proper growth stage and not according to a calendar date.
Agronomists have developed the Feekes' Scale, an objective measure of the growth and development of wheat plants, to help growers identify the optimum time to apply inputs.
This measuring system ranges from 1.0 (to designate emergence of the first seedling leaf) to 11.4 (to designate mature plants with hard grain.
Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers