VOLUNTEER WHEAT

Volunteer Wheat, Triticum aestivum, is an annual weed that reproduces by the release of their seed. They have a straight and smooth stem, with leaf blades that are smooth, wide and twist clockwise. The flowers the Volunteer Wheat produces sit in spikes and the lemmas can be awnless or awned, depending on the variety. They have oblong seeds that are reddish in color and are quite small. The seed life of Volunteer Wheat living in soil is about 1 to 3 years.

Soil stabiliser for sandy areas prone to wind erosion.

This species is highly competitive with wheat thus significantly reducing yields (NAPPO 2003). Its seeds can also contaminate grain (NAPPO 2003; WSNWCB 2008). The similar seed size of Jointed Goatgrass makes it difficult to identify contamination, and causes difficulty in separation (NAPPO 2003). Jointed Goatgrass is known to hybridise with wheat and the hybrid plants display spikelets with the morphology of both species. The seed produced by hybrids is usually sterile (WSNWCB 2008).

Spray FireHawk Bioherbicide Concentrate: 50 mL/L of water. Respray if required