Prevent corn diseases with Headline

There’s still time to get the Plant Health ™ benefits of Headline ® fungicide on corn and prevent the worst

By AgWeb.com Editors

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November 17, 2020 01:21 AM

There’s still time to get the plant health™ benefits of Headline® fungicide on corn by preventing the worst diseases. The fact is that even the lowest level of disease drains yield from your fields. So the key is to apply Headline now to prevent disease outright and enable your corn to benefit from improved growth efficiency and stress resistance.

You get the greatest benefit by applying Headline between mid-flag and silking in advance of disease outbreaks. The benefits of this kind of preventative application have been proven on tens of thousands of acres of on-farm trials over the past two years. In 2006, in more than 1,500 grower-applied trials, Headline improved corn yield by 12 to 15 bu/A.

The following section outlines the three most harmful diseases to corn and how you can spot them.

Grey Leaf Spot Identification
Appears as rectangular brown-to-gray lesions, turning dark in the center later in the season.

Scouting
The most common and significant foliar disease in most corn-growing regions – especially in humid areas or where tillage practices leave corn debris on the soil surface.

Observe two rows of plants 10 feet in length at several representative locations. The number of random sites observed when scouting a field should be based on the size of the field.

Anthracnose Identification
Appears as oval to elongated lesions with a tan center and a reddish to yellowish border around lesion. Found primarily on the lower leaves, it can destroy large areas of the lower leaf surface. It can also cause the top of the plant to die back and stalk rot.

Scouting
With the aid of a hand lens, black spines can be seen arising from the center of the leaf spots. Scouting should be done every three weeks when plants are between the knee-high and whorl stages.

Southern Rust Identification
The spores are light cinnamon brown to orange (more orange than common rust spores) and densely scattered on the upper leaves.

Scouting
Most common in the South, but may be more damaging in years when warm, humid weather persists and large amount of inoculum is blown from the Southern to the Midwestern states.

Scouts should observe two rows of plants 10 feet in length at several representative locations throughout the field. Fields should be examined every four weeks from whorl through dent stage.

Always read and follow label directions.
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