Eight Key Points for Late-Season Wheat Sowing to Achieve High Yield

Generally, late-season wheat has less accumulated temperature before winter, fewer roots, fewer leaves, fewer tillers, small and weak seedlings, and a rapid development process in spring. To ensure high and stable yields of late-season wheat, sowing must adhere to comprehensive cultivation techniques focused on increasing fertilizer application, selecting @#@245@#@ improved varieties suitable for late sowing and early maturity, and increasing seeding rate. The following eight points should be emphasized:

1. Early clearing of stubble: Without affecting the yield of autumn crops, strive to clear stubble early, prepare the soil early, and sow early, speeding up sowing progress and reducing the loss of accumulated temperature. To promote early maturity of the previous crop, cotton can be sprayed with ripening agents such as ethephon in early October for ripening, or cotton stalks can be pulled up and dried before and after the Frost's Descent solar term, striving for early stubble clearing and early sowing, and aiming for wheat to overwinter with tillers. To enable early clearing of the previous crop, for late-harvested crops such as cotton, sweet potato, and autumn vegetables, the methods of interplanting in wheat fields or transplanting large seedlings are recommended to promote early maturity and early harvest, laying the foundation for early wheat sowing.

2. Fine soil preparation: Fine soil preparation not only creates a suitable environment for wheat growth and development, but also eliminates weeds and prevents wheat yellow dwarf disease and wheat rosette dwarf disease. Therefore, after harvesting the previous crop, promptly deep plow and harrow carefully, and level the soil finely. For plots with insufficient soil moisture, prepare beds and irrigate to build up adequate subsoil moisture, so that the soil settles firmly without clods above or below the surface, strictly preventing soil from drying out through cracks, and striving for full seedling emergence after sowing. If soil preparation is delayed for some reason, shallow plowing to remove stubble before sowing, or sowing in furrows, can also be adopted to facilitate early emergence and early development of wheat.

3. Increased fertilizer application: Increasing fertilizer application and formula fertilization are important measures to increase late-season wheat yield, reduce production costs, and increase economic benefits. They also play an important role in improving wheat's drought resistance and resistance to dry hot winds. The fertilization method for late-season wheat should adhere to the principle of mainly base fertilizer, mainly organic fertilizer, with chemical fertilizer as a supplement. According to soil fertility and yield requirements, apply fertilizer according to the soil and mix reasonably. Generally, for wheat fields with a yield of 250-300 kg per 667 sq m (1 mu), base fertilizer can include 3000 kg of high-quality organic fertilizer, 15 kg of urea, and 50 kg of superphosphate, with 5 kg of diammonium phosphate as seed fertilizer; for late-season wheat with a yield of 350-500 kg per 667 sq m, 3500-4000 kg of organic fertilizer, 20 kg of urea, and 40-50 kg of superphosphate can be applied, with 5 kg of diammonium phosphate as seed fertilizer. Attention should be paid to applying fertilizer and seed separately to prevent seed burning.

4. Compensating for lateness with variety selection: Practice has proven that planting early-maturing semi-winter varieties of late-season wheat results in a faster stage development process, shorter vegetative growth period, and increased grain-filling intensity, making it easy to achieve the goals of large spikes, many grains, heavy grains, and early maturity with high yield. Currently, the main varieties suitable for late sowing and early maturity in Shandong, Henan, and other areas include "Xuzhou No. 26" and "Zhengmai 9023." These varieties have the advantages of strong spring growth, relatively good resistance to dry hot winds, and good yield performance.

5. Sowing with adequate soil moisture: Only sowing with adequate soil moisture can give one the initiative to obtain sufficient plants and spikes and achieve stable, high yields. The suitable soil moisture for late-season wheat sowing is 70%-80% of field water-holding capacity. If below the lower limit, emergence will be uneven, with missing seedlings and gaps in rows, affecting wheat yield. To ensure sowing with adequate moisture, it is best to irrigate with stubble still in place before harvesting the previous crop and timely cultivate to conserve moisture. Alternatively, after harvesting the previous crop, promptly build up moisture and timely plow and harrow to conserve moisture before sowing. If rushing to sow early, immediately irrigate with "covering water" after sowing, and when moisture is suitable, promptly loosen the soil to conserve moisture and help seedlings emerge.

6. Seed soaking and sprouting: To enable late-season wheat to emerge early and ensure sufficient moisture for emergence, soak seeds in warm water at 20-30°C for 5-6 hours before sowing, remove and air-dry before sowing, which can advance emergence by 2-3 days. Alternatively, before sowing, soak wheat seeds in warm water at 20-25°C for a full day and night. After the seeds have absorbed enough water, remove them and pile them into a seed heap 30 cm thick, turning it several times each day. When the embryo portion of the seeds shows white, spread them out to air-dry and sow, which can advance emergence by 5-7 days compared with sowing dry seeds.

7. Increase seeding rate. Because late-season wheat is sown late, with insufficient accumulated temperature before winter, it is difficult for it to tiller. Although spring tillers have a high spike-forming rate, the number of tillers per plant is significantly reduced. Using a conventional seeding rate will inevitably result in insufficient spike number, affecting the improvement of yield per unit area. Therefore, appropriately increasing the seeding rate, increasing the population, relying on main stems to form spikes, and striving to cultivate strong seedlings to promote early tillering and more tillering, aiming for both main stems and tillers to form spikes, ensuring sufficient spike number, can also achieve high yield.

For late-season wheat sown around October 15, the seeding rate per 667 sq m should be 7.5-10 kg; after mid-October, for every 2 days of delayed sowing, increase the seeding rate by 0.5-1 kg; for sowing around October 25, the seeding rate should be 12.5-15 kg.

8. Appropriately shallow sowing: Mechanical sowing can distribute seeds evenly, reduce "clumped" seedlings and gaps in rows, and benefit individual development. Under the premise of adequate soil moisture, appropriately shallow sowing is an effective measure to fully utilize early accumulated temperature, reduce seed nutrient consumption, and achieve early emergence, more root development, early growth, and early tillering. Generally, the sowing depth should be 3 cm.