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Several crop diseases present in NW Missouri

An agronomist in northwest Missouri says consistent rains and cool nights have created a good environment for crop diseases and farmers should be actively scouting their fields.

Erin Marlow with Cropwise Consulting tells Brownfield tar spot has flourished in the corn.

“In the last 1.5 to 2 weeks, I can find tar spot in about 80% of the fields we walk into,” she says. “Even fields we sprayed 1 month or 5 to 6 weeks ago, we’re having to respray. Of course, it’s going to help with all of the diseases, but especially tar spot. The corn is around the dent stage.”

She says there are differences with the disease based on corn hybrids and it’s a good time to evaluate resistance. In the early planted soybeans, Marlow says sudden death syndrome is starting to show up. However…

“We generally see SDS and anticipate high yielding soybeans. There’s a love-hate relationship with SDS when it comes to what we’ll end up harvesting.”

She says yellow and brown patches of fields can be SDS, but it can also be other things, too. Marlow says there’s also some frogeye leaf spot in soybeans, which can be controlled with a fungicide.

But the window to apply fungicide is closing and she encourages farmers to consider another application for crops, if needed, to help with yield and harvestability.

Photo credit: Sudden death syndrome in soybeans and tar spot in corn – taken by Erin Marlow.