Parson, Kansas —
Fungus is upon us as wet weather refuses to let up in Missouri.
As significant rainfall continues, leaving muggy air and soggy fields, farmers are finding problems with rust and other fungal foliage diseases on crops.
Common rust is one problem farmers should keep an eye on in cornfields.
“The rainy forecast adds to the possibility that those infections will spread,” said Laura Sweets, a University of Missouri Extension plant pathologist. “The biggest thing with rust is that it’s such a rapid-building disease that you really need to get your fungicide on early to be effective.”
Paying attention to that early development is necessary with rust, which will rapidly reach a point that takes a toll on fields.
“When you’re scouting for rust, you’ll count pustules and initially see just a few, then you will see 10 or 20, and the next jump will be exponential where you’ll see them in the hundreds per leaf,” Sweets said. “If fungicides are going to be effective, you need to spray them before you see that exponential explosion.”
Sweets said she was surprised with the early emergence of common rust in fields, which tends to be less of a problem than southern rust due to hybrid resistance.
Young corn tissue is particularly susceptible, even if the variety is resistant, she said. “If there’s a lot of young leaf tissue—in the three- or four-leaf stage—you probably will have more of a problem than if the plants are larger.”
Rust tends to be a problem in seasons when strong wind currents come from the south, spreading fungal spores to Missouri crops.
“Typically we get our inoculum from Texas and Oklahoma. We see it affect southwest Missouri first and catch air currents up through Sedalia into northern Missouri,” Sweets said.
A silver lining to the situation is that southern rust—a much more economically debilitating form of rust—has yet to be seen in Missouri fields.
Although common rust may present a problem in many fields and warrant early application of fungicide, Sweets noted that farmers should carefully evaluate whether spraying will pay off.
“If you get it early in the season, before corn tassels, you could be looking at losses up to five percent with common rust, but that would be even worse if you had a problem with southern rust,” she said. “There are so many fields with standing water and uneven stands that before I even consider applying fungicide I’d have a conversation about how fertility is holding up, how good is the stand.”
Crops
Rain brings on fungus issues in Mo. corn
- Crops
-
-
Dealing with soybean seedling diseases
Soybean seedling diseases can and do occur every year in Missouri. The likelihood of these diseases showing up in fields increases when temperatures are moderate and soils are saturated at planting time.
-
Crop operating expenses up in ‘12
The cost of growing crops in Arkansas this year has risen 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent over last year, depending crop, according to research by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
-
Spotted knapweed thriving in Missouri
It has been 10 years since spotted knapweed was first identified in southwest Missouri. The first three or four years after being noticed it didn’t seem to be spreading But in the past few years, this noxious weed has shown up in increasing amounts in new places around southwest Missouri.
-
Dry conditions add to wheat stress in western, central Kan.
Wheat is under stress in much of western Kansas south of I-70 and west of Pratt and Great Bend. Wheat fields could use at least one last good rain before harvest.
-
Report says markets plead for soybeans
Much has happened since early March that could sway farmers to take advantage of an increasing market for soybeans and plant more of the crop. Last week USDA reproted that soybean supplies relative to use could be at their lowest since 1965 after the 2012-13 cropping year
-
Early hay cutting offers some consolation in wake of 2011 drought
The early cutting is a blessing in an area where last year’s drought turned pastures to tinder and forced many producers on scorched farms in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas to sell cattle they could no longer feed.
-
Armyworms on the march in SW Missouri
University of Missouri Extension agronomy specialists have been closely monitoring true armyworm activity in various crops in Missouri this year. This comes after reports of significant damage to forages and crops in northern Arkansas.
-
Researchers continue battling soybean pest
University of Missouri plant pathologist Melissa Mitchum and colleagues at Iowa State University and North Carolina State University recently received a $466,000 grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to continue their research on protecting soybeans from nematode parasites.
-
Determining the cost of hay equipment
The greening of pastures and warming temperatures have triggered ruminant livestock owners to start thinking about the upcoming haying season
-
Natural predators at work on aphids in Kansas wheat
Early April brought more than warm weather to Kansas farms. Aphid populations increased around the state due to immigration of the insects from the south and local reproduction.
- More Crops Headlines
-
Dealing with soybean seedling diseases
