What to Do About Missing and Gapped Seedlings in Wheat Fields? Detailed Remedial Methods

In wheat production, uneven seedling emergence often occurs for a variety of reasons. In practice, a 10 cm stretch within a wheat row with no seedlings is considered a missing seedling spot, and a 16 cm stretch with no seedlings is considered a gap in the row. There are many causes of missing and gapped seedlings, such as rough tillage with many clods; sowing into yellow-dry soil in a hurry with insufficient subsoil moisture; uneven sowing depth with missed or skipped seeding; poor seed quality leading to a low emergence rate; damage from underground pests; phytotoxicity from improper seed or soil treatment; excessively high soil salinity; and so on. If timely measures are not taken for wheat fields with missing and gapped seedlings, it not only wastes land but also has a major impact on yield. The commonly adopted remedial measures are:

Checking seedlings and reseeding: 3 to 5 days after emergence, soak seeds of the same variety in 20°C warm water for 3 to 5 hours, remove them and keep them moist, and when the seeds begin to sprout, open a furrow with a small hoe or furrow opener and reseed; if the soil moisture is poor, apply a small amount of water along the furrow, then cover with soil and firm it down.

Thinning seedlings and transplanting: For sections that still have missing seedlings after entering the tillering stage, thin seedlings on the spot to fill in sparse areas, transplanting while thinning and keeping the strong while removing the weak. When transplanting, the soil coverage depth should meet the standard of "not covering the growing point above, not exposing the white root below." Firm the soil immediately after planting, water promptly if soil moisture is lacking, and if conditions permit, apply a small amount of quick-acting fertilizer to help survival and rapid growth.