THE BIG QUESTION?

Many growers are asking the million dollar question: “Should we apply fungicides on our corn and soybeans this year?” Last year the majority of growers did not get an economic return from applying fungicides. There are several reasons for the lack of return with number one being that the environment was not conducive for disease development. This season, however, is a little different from last.

Recently, the experimental disease prediction model indicated that environmental conditions are favorable for disease development in some regions and that it had been triggered on July 15th. Based on the experimental model, gray leaf spot (GLS) in corn and frogeye leaf spot in soybeans should be observed around July 15th through Aug. 2nd. Scouting observations indicate that GLS and frogeye leaf spot lesions had been discovered on July 24th and may increase in severity from that date if conditions for favorable disease development continue.

A concern at this time is that many of our current corn and soybean acres were planted to the same crop two years ago. Two years ago we had considerable GLS and frogeye in the region. If you are a no-tiller pay close attention to those acres, as infected residue two years old may still be source of disease inoculum for this year’s crop.

Please remember that favorable environmental conditions for disease development vary from region to region, if not just right across the road. Scouting is essential at this time and throughout the remainder of the growing season. As always, varietal susceptibility, crop rotations, tillage practices, crop growth stages, field history, and future weather conditions all play important roles in getting the most bang for the buck out of your fungicide dollars.

Be sure to attend Brodbeck Seeds LLC field day events this summer to learn about the benefits of our recently approved new SmartStax corn trait technology.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact:

Terry Jones CPAg, Regional Agronomist @ 419.346.7786 or

Rod King CCA, Regional Agronomist @ 574.596.6721 or