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Weather shift favors corn diseases

A shift to wetter and cooler weather could result in late season crop disease pressure.

Channel Seed agronomist Matt Nelson says parts of the Midwest are experiencing below-normal temperatures and increased precipitation.

“We saw this last year. Tar spot moved in, and with that we saw northern corn leaf blight start to roll in. I would be less concerned with something like gray leaf spot (although) we have seen some in certain areas. I know Goss’s Wilt across the state is starting to be a little easier to find.”

Nelson covers central Iowa and tells Brownfield farmers will have to manage on a case-by-case basis.

“Certainly I think we’ll see tar spot and northern corn leaf blight start to move in late, so then it becomes a question of certainly hybrid tolerance, but do we have a fungicide put out recently that’s still effective? And if not, we may be looking at some later second passes of fungicide if we see heavy disease pressure start to pop up here in the next week.”

Nelson says although the wet and cool conditions are favorable for diseases, corn and soybeans will also benefit after being stressed by hot, dry weather in June and July.