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Some fungicides prolonged plant health in dry fall

A plant disease specialist says 2024 was a good example of how a fungicide application helped corn beyond disease control.

Dr. Damon Smith with the University of Wisconsin says many farmers noticed how fields with fungicide had prolonged plant health and didn’t dry down too fast. “It’s been known for some time that the strobiluren groups, the old Headline group of fungicides can actually cause what we know as a greening effect on plants, and so there’s some physiological changes that can happen or inductions that happen in the plant that just generally keep that plant greener longer, and it keeps it from drying down a really long time.”

Many farmers in the upper Midwest raced to harvest corn before it became too dry as they tried to preserve quality and test weights.  Smith says the improved plant health and the greening effect of the fungicides helped many farmers get the most yield from a very dry second half of the growing season.