What Happened in Area III?

The greatest challenge to winter wheat production in the Ottawa Valley (Area III) continues to be winter survival. Once again, the winter season in 2005 proved to be too harsh, and the Area III Ontario Cereal Crop (OCCC) performance trials were both lost due to winterkill. Yet some growers in this region were able to maintain good winter wheat stands, and harvest good crops this year.

The reason? Winter Hardiness!! The OCCC trial at Bath was also lost due to winterkill. However, Peter Matthews at AAFC forged ahead and took winter survival notes, as there was great differentiation between varieties. (Many thanks Peter!) The average survival in the trial was a dismal 59%, with the poorest variety at only 11%. Yet the best variety managed a survival rating of 88 %!

Table 1 lists the top varieties for winter survival in the 2005 trial at Bath. Platinum has long been considered the variety of choice in tough winter kill situations, so I have only included varieties that were numerically equal to or better than Platinum. Remember that this is only one trial, one location, one year, and as such it is far from conclusive. But for Area III growers, these would certainly be the varieties to consider for your test plot. Good luck, and send us in those plot results next year!!

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