Corn Diseases

The 2012 growing season, with mid-season conditions that favored kernel set followed by conditions that favored plant stress, was ideal for the development of stalk rots, says University of Illinois Extension Educator Angie Peltier. “Stalk rots increase lodging potential, which can decrease harvestable yield and leave much of it on the ground. Corn plants are top-heavy, and stalk rots increase the chances that plants will fall over, or lodge, due to gravity or wind and weather events,” she explains....More

There continues to be lots of questions about whether plant-parasitic nematodes are causing damage to Iowa’s corn crop. This varied group of microscopic worms has some species that cause damage to corn at very low population densities (numbers) and other species that are not harmful until population densities reach many hundred or more per 100 cm3 (a little less than a half cup) of soil....More

As the tough 2011 cropping year draws to a close, farmers can take solace in knowing that despite unfavorable weather conditions, corn molds don't seem to be of widespread concern, says Charles Woloshuk, a Purdue University plant pathologist....More

It is already the first week of October and most of the corn in Ohio is still not ready for harvest. Some of the earlier-planted fields are being harvested, but at relatively high moisture levels. This is causing some concern among producers as to the potential for ear rot and mycotoxin problems....More