Wacky Wheat Photo Album

Growing Kansas Wheat

Just as soon as the wheat has been harvested from a field, Kansas farmers begin preparing the field for planting the next wheat crop. The wheat stubble (what's left of the wheat plants after the heads have been cut off by the combine) is chopped up and mixed with the dirt. This also kills any weeds which might have started growing in the wheat stubble, as well as breaking up the surface of the soil so that rain can soak in.

Crops need nutrients and fertilizer, just like people might take vitamins to grow up strong and healthy. Farmers test the soil to learn just which nutrients are needed and only apply what is needed for the next crop which will be grown in that field. To save moisture for the new wheat plants, it is important to kill any weeds that have started growing, which can be done at the same time as adding nutrients and fertilizer to the soil.

The liquid nutrients and fertilizer run from the big tanks thru tubing down to tubes attached to the big V-shaped blades on a piece of machinery called an undercutter. The big blades slide under the surface of the soil, slicing off the roots of weeds. Since the blades are placed into the ground where the roots of the new wheat plants will be, the fertilizer and nutrients are also being placed into the "root zone".

September is wheat planting time in Kansas. Wheat is planted with a drill, which is pulled by a tractor. A drill makes "furrows", opening up the center of the furrow, dropping seeds into the furrow, and then covering them up with a thin layer of soil. Since all the furrows must have seeds, it may be necessary to move the seeds around in the drill's seed boxes.

Winter wheat sprouts and grows some during the fall but it goes dormant during the winter. Then it starts growing again in the spring. It is important to check the wheat to make sure it is healthy and not being damaged by weeds, insects, or diseases.

Wheat must be harvested at just the right time - after the plant has died and the grain (wheat seeds) are dry and hard but before the plants start falling over or the grain starts falling out of the wheat heads.

The Kansas wheat harvest starts in June at the southern border of Kansas and spreads north and west, usually ending in mid-July. Wheat is harvested with a self-propelled machine called a "combine".

At the front of the combine, a large reel turns and pushes the heads of the wheat plants into the "sickle", which cuts the heads off the plants. The heads are pulled inside the combine, which shakes and beats the seeds out of the heads and separates the wheat seeds (kernels) from all the other plant materials. The seeds of the wheat plant, the grain, ends up in a grain tank on the combine and all the extra straw and parts of the wheat plant are blown out the back of the combine and spread across the field. Wheat harvest is finished but it's time to start all over again if the field will be planted to wheat for the next year's crop.