The deputy head of the regional Rosselkhoztsentr, Natalya Shmeleva, explained how to determine plant damage. According to her, it is important to initially dissect and study the ears of grain to determine the extent of damage and the percentage of affected plants.
If there are approximately 300 to 400 productive stems per square meter of sowing, they should be left untouched. If the number of stems is less than 250 per square meter, it is recommended to reseed the crops with late-seeding crops such as sunflower, sorghum, corn, millet, in moist soil to increase crop yield.
"Sunflower cotyledon leaves were frozen at the germination stage. If 15-20% is damaged, leave everything as is, but take care of fertilizing the plants. For sunflowers affected by frost at the stage of the second-third pair of true leaves, it is important to assess the state of the growth point - green color indicates surviving plants, while brown color indicates dead ones. If more than half of the seedlings have died, it should be reseeded, especially in moist soil; if there is not enough moisture, it will be necessary to do without reseeding. Even with an average density of 25-30 thousand surviving plants per hectare, there will be a harvest," Natalya Shmeleva explained.
Natalya reminded that there is no shortage of sunflower seeds in the Russian market, and local hybrids are presented in a variety and at more favorable prices compared to foreign analogs.
