Fortunately for Iowa growers, mother nature has delivered some much-needed rainfall to the state this spring and summer while eliminating all areas of drought in Iowa. Unfortunately for Iowa growers, wet conditions also provide the ideal environment for fungal diseases to flourish.
As a relatively new disease to the Midwest there are still many questions about the corn fungal disease, tar spot. One thing that is certain about this yield robber however, is that it thrives when conditions are humid and with extended periods of leaf wetness.
Mark Storr is a BASF technical service representative, and he says that the wet spring and start to summer has set Iowa up for tar spot this growing season.
Storr next explains how tar spot infects the corn plant.
With many Iowa corn growers planting later this year or even replanting due to wet fields, Storr says that fields throughout the state will vary widely by their growth stage.
He says the variance between early and late planted corn this year can lead to bigger yield losses with tar spot.
Storr says that he is encouraging growers to be proactive with their fungicide application this growing season.
For more information visit https://agriculture.basf.us/
