As planting season gets closer-a Purdue University plant pathologist says it isn't too early to start thinking about disease management.
Kiersten Wise says the first thing farmers should consider is what diseases have been a problem in a particular field.
"There are fields that have history of disease," she says. "Diseases like Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans or Goss' Wilt in corn; it is very important we identify those fields and manage them proactively."
In some cases, Wise says being proactive may mean planting resistant variety hybrids.
But since much of the seed for 2013 is already purchased-she says there are other options.
"Whatever diseases show up are going to primarily be influenced by weather conditions," she says. "If we have very cool, wet conditions at planting-we can expect to see things like seedling blights pop up in both corn and soybeans. We need to be scouting and looking for those."
And Wise tells Brownfield-farmers should be scouting their fields all season long.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com