These pustules consist of masses of yellowish orange spores. Stripe rust is similar to leaf rust, but there are two major differences. Leaf rust does not occur in stripes and it is a darker orange color than stripe rust. Sometimes stripe rust symptoms are confusing on moderately resistant varieties because stripes may turn brown and have few pustules. In that case, symptoms can resemble bacterial leaf streak or Septoria leaf blotch.
Stripe rust is favored by cool, humid weather.
65F. Stripe rust is a serious problem on wheat in regions where cool temperatures prevail through the wheat-growing season. In Kansas, we seldom have a significant problem with stripe rust for several reasons. First, stripe rust apparently does not often over-winter in Kansas so it must blow up from the south. In most years, not much blows up because stripe rust levels in Texas and Oklahoma are normally low. Second, most of our varieties have good resistance to stripe rust.