Southern Corn Rust
Southern corn rust was identified in Seminole County yesterday and can be a serious threat to our corn production. Growers in our area should definitely be on alert. There has not been any Southern Corn Rust found in the sentinel plot in Bulloch County yet. Be prepared to protect your corn as we move forward and I will keep you updated with anymore finds and will continue to sample the plot weekly in Bulloch County.
Dr. Bob Kemerait has listed 5 points to consider for southern corn rust:
1. Southern corn rust is the most important disease affecting corn in Georgia.
2. Southern corn rust was found yesterday in a very small amount in Seminole County on corn at the R2/blister stage.
3. The disease can spread rapidly in storms and also with irrigation. Conditions last week were favorable for development and spread.
4. Now that we have found it, I have enough respect for the disease to say that growers in the southwestern part of the state whose corn has reached (or is about to reach) tassel growth stage an application of fungicide to protect the crop. Growers in other areas removed from extreme SW Georgia should consider to monitor the spread of the disease. Some may want to make fungicide application either as a 1) safeguard or because 2) they are already making a trip across the field to spray something else.
5. If northern corn leaf blight is not a problem in a field, then growers have many fungicide options, to include tebuconazole to manage rust. For longer protective windows or where NCLB is also a problem, growers should apply strobilurins or fungicides that include some combination of strobilurins, triazoles, and SDHI active ingredients.
Asian Soybean Rust
As of yesterday, Asian soybean rust has been found in small amounts on KUDZU in the following Georgia counties: Miller, Baker and Grady. We can assume that soybean rust is present in low amounts throughout Southwest Georgia. The Bulloch County soybean rust sentinel plot will begin to be monitored later this month and sampled weekly for the presence of rust. You can go to the following site for the latest update on positive soybean rust finds https://sbr.ipmpipe.org/cgi-bin/sbr/public.cgi
