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Channel Field Check Up
KAYLISSA HALTER
ROBINSON, ILL.
Ever feel like you’ve been sucker punched? Well 2015 was the year of sucker punches! This growing season has brought many challenges our way; from cool and wet early to excessive rainfall, shallow roots to heavy disease pressure and more. As soon as things were looking up, we were dealt another obstacle to overcome. Many of those obstacles now have snowballed into the loss of stalk and root integrity.
Stalk and root rots have set in in most of southern Illinois, as well as many other areas of the Midwest. Excessive rains early caused shallow-rooted corn, which in turn created nitrogen (N) loss or the inability of corn roots to reach N and other essential nutrients. Many cornfields are variable in height and ear development. Considering everything our corn crop has had come its way, it has held up fairly well. Season-long stress, in the form of N loss or unavailability and heavy disease pressure, has taken its toll, and stalk and root rots are showing up frequently.
As you begin harvest and have seed selection conversations for 2016, keep in mind the rots and diseases present in your fields. Correctly identifying the diseases present is very important in reducing future issues. The fungus responsible for many of our stalk and root rots, as well as foliar diseases, often overwinter on crop residue and can potentially affect future crops. Tillage, crop rotation, good hybrid/variety disease tolerance, and fungicides can help reduce future disease pressure. Check out the links below or visit with your local Channel Seedsman to review issues you have in the field this year and how to create a plan for next year. Celebrate your successes this year, no matter how big or small. Dust yourself off and bring your A-game to 2016.
http://www.channel.com/agronomics/Pages/Foliar-Diseases-of-Corn.aspx
http://www.channel.com/agronomics/Pages/Physiological%20and%20Pathological%20Stalk%20Lodging.aspx . ∆
KAYLISSA HALTER: Channel agronomist
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