Disease pressure prevalent this year

We have had the perfect environment for infection on corn leaves says an area field advisor.

“As we are looking at fields, we have excellent potential out there, it’s just a matter of protecting it at this point and really ensuring that optimum plant health,” said Kelsey McNamara with Brandt Consolidated.

McNamara believes this could be the earliest we have seen corn pollination in our area. Every year may be different, but she says this may be the year to take a hard look at what foliar applications can do for plants. Anyone with questions should contact their crop advisor.

Gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight are diseases to watch out for this year.

“Obviously, we have the right host and then we have to have that pathogen to get into the plant,” McNamara adds.

Due to the heat, crops are ahead in growing degree units and have been since the middle of May. That could set us up for an early harvest although we can’t always predict the weather and things could change.