For the most part, corn and soybeans didn’t face much disease pressure during the growing season.
However, Stuart Welden of Specialty Hybrids says during harvest, he’s been noticing a lot of tar spot.
“We had a record-breaking crop growing [around] July 4—there was next to no disease pressure showing at that time,” he said. “Tar spot is the king for this year. Thankfully it didn’t come until late, so it doesn’t appear it’s going to hurt yield as much as it could if it came in early.”
According to Dr. Marty Chilvers of MSU Extension, tar spot has been confirmed in 29 Michigan counties. Welden said trials are still ongoing to determine the effects of fungicide applications on tar spot.
“Delaro is the only fungicide labeled for tar spot, and the jury’s still out to decide whether it’s a suppression or control,” said Welden.
As for soybeans, he has been seeing an uptick in sudden death syndrome (SDS).
“It’s more than one would like to see,” said Welden. “It’s not variety specific—it’s across the whole crop regardless of brand or variety have been planted.”
SDS comes from a fungus in the soil and is tied to nematode pressure, said Welden.
“It rarely affects the whole field—it tends to be spots or individual plants throughout the field,” he said.
Welden is encouraging growers to take advantage of downtime during harvest to get rest and do repairs.
This Yield Check update is made possible by Specialty Hybrids, it’s your field, our Specialty. Find your local field sales representative and yield results online at www.specialtyhybrids.com.
