“We’re seeing some of these plants that are showing this copper type of color and this is basically anthracnose leaf blight. It came in late this year and started at the bottom and worked its way up. There are spores on these leaves that later on in the season will go ahead and attach themselves to the stalk, work itself into the stalk. From anthracnose leaf blight, we’ll have anthracnose stalk rot.”
He says you won’t want those plants standing until late October when they’ll fall to the ground and you will lose ears. So Mullen’s advice is walk fields now to get a good idea of what issues might dictate when you harvest.
See the anthracnose, varying yields in corn fields based on their planting date, and a pretty good looking soybean field, all with Mullen’s observations, in the HAT video. Mullen is Director of Agronomic Services for Seed Consultants Inc.