Harvesting winter wheat seed for 2026

[Ronski]

I grew some winter wheat this year and it looks like it is 10ish days away from swathing the low spots.
But it is only 10" tall on the sandy hilltops and I couldn't pickup the swath (surprisingly decent heads on it though). The low spots are 30" high and still have a green shade but heads are filling fast.

I plan on cleaning some for seed so I can either leave the best/tallest 20 acres standing unsprayed and swath it or I can leave the shortest 40 acres standing unsprayed and straightcut it (currently soft dough stage). Probably be the same time either way if it stays dry after swathing.

Would there be a difference in seed quality between the stressed/low sandy portions or the more normal low areas?

Either way I harvest it should I put it in an air bin for a week to stabilize moisture before a germ test or haul it straight to the cleaning plant and check germ afterwards? Will wheat germ immediately or does it have to rest for a while?

Thanks
?

[dave4441]

Maybe should phone a seed lab. I do think they use a cold treatment to simulate time to seeding but best to ask Discovery or 20/20 labs

[13stripe]

Winter wheat does not need to rest, by the time you clean it and it is time to seed you will be good to go. I would shoot for the larger seed if there is a difference. What does your weather forecast look like, unweathered seed would be good. It would be a shame to get caught in a bad weather pattern and have it sprout and hurt seed quality.

[Ronski]

Weather is supposed to be wet the next 5 days (but the weatherman is a lying b.tch so far this year). I will take this stuff off early and aerate it before and after cleaning to dry it down. Its still a week to 10 days away (but I'm sure I will be combining in July)

[Grahamp]

I once seeded winter wheat the same day I combined it (uncleaned) it was fine. One other thing to think about is with Diquat so cheap you may want to spray with that and not worry about roundup hurting your germ.