Winter wheat - no tillers

Hello. First, my English sucks, sorry about that. So, second regenerative year and my winter wheats have no tillers. Soil organic matter 2,2%, soluble phosphorus 98-108mg/kg, soluble potassium 180-280mg/kg, pH 6,7-7,2.Rotation - winter rapeseed, winter barley, two months of cover crop (mustard, terminated with disc cultivator at flowering), and now winter wheat. 60kg of MAP, row placed, at sowing. At three leaves stage foliar - copper 60g/ha, manganese 160g/ha, zinc 40g/ha. Now, after vernalization, about 70% of plants have no tillers, a couple of very small new roots and growing new leaf (sixth leaf is at about 40%). They are purple, so I suspect deficiency of phosphorus. Other 30% plants have 2-3 tillers, big beautiful new roots, but are purple too. Soil temperature at ~5cm depth is +2 degree Celsius. Any thoughts? Phosphorus deficiency because of small amount of fertiliser? Bad distribution (too few fertilizer pellets per meter)? Or deficiency of nitrogen?

Purple leaf tips are quite possibly a phosphorus deficiency but that is often just caused by the cold

Temporary phosphorus deficiency can cause purpling of plant leaves. This can happen late in the fall or early in the spring when soils are cool and wet. When the soil is cold and wet, phosphorus uptake slows. Phosphorus is needed in the plant to transport sugars into the phloem from “sources” to “sinks” where the sugars are needed.

Even in the colder temperatures, chloroplasts inside the leaves continue to absorb sunlight and produce sugars. Anthocyanin pigments are created from cyanidin glucosides (plant sugars), which accumulate in the upper epidermis of the leaf due to slowed transport in the phloem. Sugars in the phloem move via mass flow, which is impacted by plant stresses such as cold temperatures.

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I would not worry about the tillering yet, with the soil temperature at 2C they probably have not got going yet.

Viku Jules wrote:Soil temperature at ~5cm depth is +2 degree Celsius. Any thoughts?

It's still winter there. I would leave them alone. They'll grow better when it gets warmer.

Ok, now it's still too cold, I get it. But they already have 5 leaves, and at this stage, they must have tree tillers. Or maybe I understand wheat development wrong - 3 leaves 1 tiller, 4 leaves 2 tillers and so on. All farmers in our area have beautiful wheats, three-four tillers, very hungry after warm winter, but they'll be ok. I'm the only one with regenerative practices, so it must be a fault in my growing program.

I wonder if the other farmer's planted earlier in the fall?

Seeding too dense will reduce tillers. And variety matters, too.

I was listening to a farmer that cut his seeding rate by 90% in his regenerative wheat.  Yes, 1/10 the seed per acre.  He said it tillers like crazy and he gets close to the same yield.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
I wonder if the other farmer's planted earlier in the fall?

Same time. +- couple days

Seeding rate normal, as always.

I can't understand if it's possible for phosphorus deficiency to show so early, at 4 leaves stage. Plant is small, there is phosphorus from fertiliser, and for cover crops. I think i'll try phosphorus foliar with manganese, zinc and urea, maybe i'll manage to get some spring tillers.