News

Wet planting season calls for disease scouting

DuPont field development representative Mike Meyer says wet planting has resulted in the need for growers to scout for seedling diseases and early season leaf blight on corn.

“And if that weather pattern were to continue into the season we could start later season foliar blight start to develop, such as northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot and white mold on soybeans,” Meyer told Brownfield Ag News.

Growers should become aware of local plant disease issues and be proactive in either preventing or treating conditions that will hurt production, according to Meyer.

“We recommend making fungicide applications preventatively,” said Meyer, “that’s the best way to control these diseases, and plan accordingly.”

Meyer recommends first assessing the risk of disease and then, if necessary, treat with fungicides that have multiple modes of action.

AUDIO: Mike Meyer (8 min. MP3)