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Stop white mold from spreading in 2024

A soybean educator is encouraging farmers to track where white mold outbreaks are occurring this fall.

Michigan State University Extension’s Mike Staton tells Brownfield changes to tillage and crop rotation can reduce the impact of the fungus next year.

“Do not till the field, leave them on the surface in these bad white mold areas or bad white mold fields, and then plant a non-host crop the next year,” he recommends.  “Wheat would be perfect.”

He says there is evidence white mold is less of an issue in no-till systems.

“They just don’t have it in their fields,” he shares.  “If you’ve got residue there, it intercepts those spores because these mushrooms are really low to the ground and they don’t get to the dead blossoms on the soybean plant.”

Staton says the heaviest pressure has been reported in Allegan and Ottawa counties, the Thumb region, and in irrigated fields.