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White mold thriving in soybeans

The crop disease white mold is thriving in Midwestern soybean fields.

University of Minnesota Extension integrated pest management specialist Bruce Potter says the prolonged cool and wet weather is to blame.

“Two years ago it was pretty pronounced, and it seems like that’s coming back this year.”

He tells Brownfield it’s not surprising soybean fields that suffered heavy white mold pressure two years ago are under attack again.

“Sclerotia can last a long time, 8 to 10 years in the soil. And what we had a few years ago was some good weather conditions, and then a lot of the varieties that were planted tended to be highly susceptible to white mold. So we got some good inoculum populations built up.”

While there’s not much a grower can do about white mold now, Potter recommends factoring the disease into next year’s soybean variety and fungicide selections.

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