PatchFarmer - 10/27/2025 18:53

Planted a field of wheat on October 4th. Came up looking good as it should. Got 4 inches of rain last week. Came back to look at the seeding today, had many dead patches on higher ground, lower areas looked ok. Many dead and dying plants. First thought was excess moisture, but there were healthy plants right next to dead ones in well drained areas. Digging up sick seedlings revealed no roots. Used a 3 inch putty knife to turn the seed trench upside down, revealing about a dozen mid-size white grubs per foot of row. Too small for June beetle larve, no white cheeks like asiatic garden beetle larve. I wish I could figure out how to post images here, its unbelievable how many of them there are. About 50% stand gone already. I will probably kill off the wheat and plant beans in the spring. One expensive cover crop

Agronomic notes
Planted wheat October 4th, pop. 1.5 million
Field was burned off hayfield killed in late August. That appears to be the issue. The beetles lay eggs in July, so they were already there when I planted. Very dry during September, first good rain 2 days after planting. Nothing else for them to eat until the wheat grew.

My biggest question is what to do when planting beans in the spring. I don't know when they pupate and leave, or what kind of seed treatment to kill them. I would expect to raise population some even with treatment for sacrifical loss