2019 is one year that we are ready to put behind us. Some producers in the northern parts of Iowa may still be waiting to put this one behind them. However, the crazy year did give us plenty of opportunities for education. So, what does that mean for the corn diseases we faced this year?
Dr. Alison Robertson is a plant pathologist at Iowa State University. She says we had a real roller-coaster when it came to weather conditions in 2019.
Robertson says diseases usually need prolonged periods of certain conditions to take hold. With the variability we saw, many diseases appeared but never amounted to anything disastrous.
Dr. Robertson says if she had to pick one disease that had the strongest foothold, it would be Gray Leaf Spot.
Robertson says her trials did show signs of Northern Corn Leaf Blight and Southern Rust showing up, but it was too late in the season for them to be of any consequence.
Robertson says the lack of any strong disease pressure means there was little damage to yields from disease. She says the lesson to learn for farmers in 2019 is to, ?not freak out.? Be aware of your conditions, be monitoring your fields for disease pressure, and have a strong plan in place to combat disease pressure.
