Rotation is a primary control measure for powdery mildew and the Septoria and Stagonospora diseases. Adequate and balanced fertility, to provide optimum nutrition for hardy plants, helps lessen the adverse effects of foliage diseases. High rates of nitrogen will favor powdery mildew and Stagonospora leaf and glume blotch. Head scab is usually more severe when wheat is planted after corn because the fungus causing scab is the same one that causes Gibberella stalk rot. When possible, wheat should follow soybean or other legumes in the cropping sequence.
Fungicides are available to control most foliar diseases of wheat.
However, the use of these fungicides should be based on sound economic decisions and the level of disease in the field. Fungicides have been profitable during years when foliar diseases have been severe on susceptible cultivars or in locations where diseases are a persistent problem. Both of these diseases are soilborne, meaning that the fungi that cause these diseases reside in the soil. Take-all can be recognized by examining the roots and lower stems of prematurely killed plants. The base of the stem and roots will have a scurfy, black appearance.