Many Texas growers are spraying foliar fungicides to protect their fields from defoliation. Although we seldom worry about stripe rust in Kansas, there is a chance that the stripe rust could blow up in time to cause some losses. We need to keep an eye open for it just in case. Symptoms of stripe rust are small yellowish orange pustules arranged in long stripes on the leaves. 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.