Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Application of Fungicides to Corn/Soybeans Under Drought Conditions is a Bad Idea

I was just reading an article in AG Professional Magazine http://www.agprofessional.com/newsletters/agpro-weekly/articles/Dry-weather-crops-still-need-fungicides-162045795.html entitled "Dry Weather Crops Still Need Fungicide". The article was discussing  the "Plant Health" benefits of strobilurins when applied to corn or soybean under "dry" conditions. The article did not mention the use of fungicides on crops that have been severely compromised by extended drought conditions. Everyone knows that extended drought greatly lowers yield potentials (hence the ability to recover the cost of the fungicide and application are very limited) AND disease pressure of most fungal diseases that are controlled by strobilurin fungicides is very low.  Conversely charcoal rot can be very severe on both corn and soybean in drought years, but this disease is not controlled by any foliar fungicide.  I will simply conclude by restating my the blog title:  Application of Foliar Fungicides to Corn/Soybean Under Drought Conditions is a Bad Idea.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.