Field Crop Diseases - Bob Mulrooney, Extension Plant Pathologist. Disease levels in general continue to be low. Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus or wheat yellow mosaic as it is referred to now, was confirmed in a sample from Sussex county last week. This virus is transmitted by a soil fungus, so it is soilborne and usually is very uniformly distributed throughout infected fields. Leaves have yellow-green mottling, dashes and streaks.
Larger spots can become necrotic and reddish streaking and necrosis at leaf tips sometimes occurs.
It has been reported that take-all was seen in wheat this week. Infected plants are stunted, produce bleached heads with no grain, and the plants are pulled easily from the soil. Infected plants will have a shiny, black coating on the stem at the ground line. Peel back the leaf sheath and check out the lower stem. Roots will be rotted and few.