Here’s our area now that flowering is virtually over. The
wind is blowing (as usual- it is Kansas, you know!) and that gives the
field an interesting, wavy appearance.
This is a closeup of our row. You can still see the yellow
leaf tips caused by Barley Yellow Dwarf. The big news is that flowering is
complete. (I couldn’t find any fresh anthers poking out of a floret on
late tillers or stems.) Generally, flowering will occur over a three to
five day period in an individual head. The whole field, with early tillers
and late tillers, will take five to seven days to complete flowering.
You’ve been waiting a long time to see wheat kernels. So,
here’s our first look at recognizable kernels, but just barely
recognizable! On the left is a kernel that is about three days old and the
bigger kernel is about five days old (it is 3 mm long, which is about half the length of a mature kernel). They both still have remnants of the
stigma attached to the top of the kernel and they have the greenish-white
appearance of the ovule (from the May 4th pictures). Well, do
they look like wheat kernels to you?
