News
Summer weather creates earlier and higher crop disease pressure
Summer weather has been the ideal host for increasing crop disease pressure in some parts of the Midwest.
Kurt Maertens is a technical service representative for BASF covering eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
“We are halfway through pollination in most of my area and we do have significant grey leaf spot pressure and we are getting more and more reports of tar spot and some southern rust.”
He says the heat, rain and humidity have allowed infection to set in earlier this year.
“Meaning that with conducive conditions moving forward, which the forecast looks like that, this disease pressure is going to continue and could be severe, limiting yield for corn especially.”
He says growers need to be out scouting their crops and considering fungicide applications.
