New Rotation for Winter Wheat Possible

By David Boehm, AgriPro Wheat

You might have never thought it possible to plant winter wheat into sunflower stubble, but a few innovative farmers in northern Minnesota are trying to make it work. Winter wheat acres have been increasing in the northern plains the past few years and the key has always been to plant into as much standing stubble as possible to catch and keep snow.  Dan Hunter, Lancaster, MN, is one grower who believes sunflowers could give him that option.

Hunter, also a custom seeder, says that winter wheat is traditionally planted into canola stubble in his area. “Canola is ideal,” Hunter admits “because it is harvested early and has lots of stubble. But a lot of people don’t raise canola.” Following soybeans allows for earlier winter wheat planting compared to sunflowers, but they don’t have the cover, Hunter added.

The key to making this rotation possible was getting the sunflowers harvested as early as possible.  This started by planting earlier maturing hybrids in late-April and early-May.  One hybrid he used is a Proseed E85 DMR sunflower with a 91-day maturity rating. Hunter said the E85 DMR was maturing earlier than he expected.  He applied a desiccant in mid-September at physiological maturity.  Unfortunately, the area received three weeks of wet weather that kept him out of the field. It wasn’t until October 12 and 13 that he got back into the field and planted his winter wheat. Most winter wheat is planted in mid-to-late September Hunter said.

Hunter planted with a John Deere 1860 no-till disk drill that he said has up to 400 lbs. of pressure per planting unit. Hunter said that piece of equipment is expensive, but worth it for seeding no-till into cover. Although sunflower stalks might have been difficult to break down and seed into, Hunter said the drill “did an excellent job of chopping the residue, still leaving enough cover.” 

Even if planting sunflowers at this time of the year is early, Keith Peltier, president of Proseed, liked the concept. He said with an earlier hybrid that comes off in mid-September, it gives growers a good option for both sunflowers and winter wheat. Peltier said that desiccating sunflowers early, around 35% moisture, does not reduce yield, but he admits that growers “might give up a little oil if drying too early.”

In addition, Peltier said that harvesting sunflowers early will also help control damage from bird feeding.

Hunter said sclerotinia disease reduced the interest in sunflowers in his area but current contract prices have renewed the interest. If the sunflower/winter wheat rotation works, it could aid to boost sunflowers in that region.

Hunter believes that cover for winter wheat is key.  In past seasons, he has had success with varieties like Jagalene that have less than optimum winter hardiness, but when planted into good cover, have yielded in the 80 bu/a range. Using an earlier sunflower hybrid, he feels, gives the same planting window as planting into soybeans, but with better cover.  

Hunter also believes that current U.S. farm and energy bill discussions are promoting the use of more no-till management.  “The writing is on the wall with the new energy bill,” that will force farmers to reduce tillage.  In regard to carbon credit programs, Hunter added that “farmers will have to keep an eye on no-till management.”