In Indiana, the entire state is marked by some kind of drought as farmers finish up this year's harvest. If rain doesn't come yet this fall, Indiana farmers are crossing fingers and toes for good snowfall. Lots of problems, but maybe not crops, can erupt when the ground is too dry. 

 Additionally, many farmers are in their first or second season battling the tar spot fungus. Which raises the question: when do you apply fungicide to combat this pesky new disease? The answer goes back to the weather and to moisture levels. 

"Visually it's a really hard disease to scout for, but to some degree you can know it's present," says Indiana agronomist Ben Jacobs. "There is a planting date correlation this year that will match back up with the weather. You can kind of predict or get an idea of how heavy the pressure it going to be if you focus on when you planted and how much moisture you got."

If this is the first season dealing with tar spot, here's the best advice from the Indiana Agronomy podcast: 
🌽 - Try not to plan on doing two fungicide applications. 

🌽 - Plan to try and apply fungicide earlier, not at the silkening stage but at the blister stage when the kernels are clear or just starting to turn yellow. 

🌽 - Push a couple week past when you're used to applying, but not too late.

Learn more about tar spot: 
https://www.pioneer.com/us/agronomy/Tar-Spot-of-Corn.html

Pioneer tar spot tolerant hybrid seed:
https://www.pioneer.com/us/products/corn/tar-spot.html



 

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