Diseases

New maps for tracking Southern rust in corn (repaired link)

  • July 14, 2019

Southern rust is caused by a fungal pathogen that does not overwinter in Illinois.  Instead, it blows in from warmer regions during the growing season.  When conditions favor spread and development of this disease significant damage can occur, especially if it arrives before tasseling (VT).  For more information on Southern rust, check out the Crop Protection Network publication by clicking here.  Yesterday our colleagues detected this disease in Southeast Missouri.  With the hurricane/tropical storm remnant pushing northward,…

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Avoid the cosmic freakout

  • July 13, 2019

Today colleagues in Indiana reported tar spot presence in some of their research plots located in North West IN.  They found an extremely low number of stroma (less than 10) when assessing approximately 500 feet of plots.  When you see or read about the report keep a few things to keep in mind:
1) The amount detected was exceptionally low, and not close to the widespread severity we saw early last year.  For example, on  July 5th,…

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RSVP for the Champaign Pest and Pathogen Field Day!

  • July 5, 2019

Come to Champaign, Illinois on July 22nd for the first annual field crop Pest and Pathogen Field Day from 9am-noon.  Registration, doughnuts, and coffee will start at 8:30 am. Parking for the event will be available at the Agricultural and Biological Engineering farm on the UIUC South Farm Facility, located at 3603 South Race Street, Urbana, IL, 61802.  Click HERE to register.
Join us to walk research plots and learn about insect and disease identification in field crops,…

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Common rust on corn- a concern?

  • June 29, 2019

Over the past week there has not been much activity as far as corn disease is concerned.  The only exception has been the detection of very light common rust infections on some corn in the north central and southern parts of the state.  Although the occurrence of common rust on corn this early in development may be a concern to some, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.
1) Common rust, caused by Puccinia sorghi,…

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Calculating fungicide net returns

  • June 26, 2019

Corn producers in parts of the state are nearing the point in time where they are thinking about fungicide applications to their fields.  In a recent post on my blog I discussed tar spot and also mentioned a recent publication that shows that a single fungicide application at the VT/R1 growth stage has the greatest chance of providing the producer with a return on their investment.  Click here for access to this article.…

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Understanding Tar spot forecasts

  • June 24, 2019

Recently I posted information on Twitter about tar spot forecasts that I will be making on my website throughout the season.  It is important to know how to interpret these forecasts.  For more information, see the article by clicking here…

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Tar spot risk in Illinois 6/21/19

  • June 21, 2019

As many of you are aware, our tar spot coalition is working to refine a tar spot model developed by colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Madison this season.  This model, currently named Tarspotter, uses weather data to predict risk of tar spot disease on corn.  For more information on the model and fungicide applications click here
Much of the corn in Illinois is just emerging, but some is past the V6-V8 stage. …

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