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Paper stalks, weak stands: harvest risks rising in untreated corn fields

Nitrogen loss and disease pressure could compromise corn stands going into harvest.

Dan Bjorklund is a technical agronomist with Iowa-based Landus Cooperative and says record rainfall this summer resulted in nutrient deficiencies and widespread cases of tar spot and southern rust.

“I’ve been in several fields the last ten days that did not have fungicide, we knew that going in. So I just wanted to check the quality of the stalks, they’re paper.”

He tells Brownfield wind gusts above 40 miles per hour could probably knock some of the crop over.

“That would be in the fields that did not have a fungicide. Then you have fields that had fungicide that still look good, there’s still green in those plants. And then you have those in the middle, where maybe one pass of a fungicide was applied.”

Bjorklund says those fields will likely be susceptible to high winds in the coming weeks.