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Southern rust surprises Upper Midwest corn growers

Southern rust came as an unwelcome surprise to many corn growers in the Upper Midwest this year.

University of Minnesota Extension agronomist Jeff Coulter says the disease was unexpected.

“We don’t see that in such large pressure very frequently. A big driver on that is what are the genetics, what are the resistance levels that the hybrids have?”

He tells Brownfield fungicides had varying degrees of success.

“And some growers reporting fairly large responses, like 20 bushels an acre or more. Some of that is a little hard to measure, but I think the widespread conclusion was that the fungicides were helping in a lot of situations this year.”

Coulter says the timing of applications also factored into the effectiveness of treatments.