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Wisconsin added to growing list of red crown rot cases

Red Crown Rot has officially been confirmed in Wisconsin, and an Extension field crops pathologist is encouraging farmers to increase scouting efforts this season.

Damon Smith with the University of Wisconsin–Madison tells Brownfield the disease was reported last September in Columbia County.

“It’s kind of a head-scratcher on how it just sort of like leapfrogged from the closest county confirmations are down in Illinois, and so how did it get to sort of a south-central county in Wisconsin,” he says.

He says researchers believe equipment or weather could have helped bring the pathogen into the state, and there are likely more areas infected.

“The variety was supposed to be rated fairly well against common disease problems here, and the plants were basically dead and lodged, they were basically flat on the ground,” he shares.

Smith says while there’s limited genetic resistance and control measures for farmers to combat red crown rot, the confirmation will help ramp up breeding programs and seed treatment research.

The disease has also been confirmed in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Minnesota, and Ohio as it continues to expand northward.