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White mold showing up in Minnesota soybean fields

500px-Soybean_White_Mold_web

A field agronomist in southwest Minnesota says he is hearing reports of white mold in soybean fields. Clyde Tiffany with DuPont Pioneer tells Brownfield his area has had very good vegetative growth, meaning the plants tend to get very tall.

“The downside of that is you get a very wet canopy.  A wet canopy allows the infection to occur.  The white mold spores enter through the defecating flower.”

He says if there is free water in the canopy, spores can enter. Once white mold is present, you’ll start to see dead plants.

“All of a sudden (the plants) just turn brown on you.  Go into that field, pull up some plants and look on the stems.  Usually you’re going to see white mold on the outside, or you can cut the stems open.”

Tiffany says infection can spread stem to stem, but there are some fungicides available.

“You have to put it on proactively, meaning when those beans are starting to flower.  At this stage of the game this late in the year it’s pretty hard to stop it.”

There are no white mold-resistant soybean varieties, but Tiffany says some products are more tolerant than others. Controlling the size of the canopy and row width, allowing for more air movement, will also help prevent the fungus.

 

 

 

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