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Louisiana’s First Rust of 2007 Season Comes Early (From the June 2007 issue of CropLife® magazine, titled “As The Winds Blow”)
BY AMY L. FAHNESTOCK
Kudzu in Louisiana is small but mighty. Compared to Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, the Bayou state doesn’t have a lot of the pesky plant. But when Asian soybean rust gets into Louisiana kudzu, the implications go far beyond the state’s borders.
This is primarily because the wind patterns coming out of Louisiana travel up the Mississippi River Basin and the Ohio River Valley, moving along the way into the areas where much of the country’s soybeans are grown. Asian soybean rust loves to travel by air, often hitchhiking on raindrops -- which is what happened late last season when rust scattered deeper into soybean strongholds than ever before.
So when soybean rust was spotted in a kudzu patch in south-central Louisiana on May 8 -- a full 53 days earlier than at the same site in 2006 -- retailers and growers in the nation’s midsection took notice.
"Just a few leaves were infected in a fairly compact area in New Iberia," says Clayton Hollier, Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter plant pathologist. A routine check of the area, an apartment complex drainage ditch covered with kudzu, resulted in the May 8 discovery.
Hollier and his LSU colleagues are very aware of the potential impact of any soybean rust found in Louisiana. "We feel a sense of responsibility for our own growers and those outside our state borders," he says. "We know that what’s going on in Louisiana is of interest to them, so we will get the information out quickly. We want them to know that as soon as we know there’s rust, they will know so that they can make the very best decisions possible for their own situation."
Overwintering Concerns
This is the second year straight that this particular kudzu patch was infected by Asian soybean rust. "It brings up another question: Did it overwinter there?" Hollier asks. Routine checks of the areas where rust developed in the state last year were conducted, along with some new areas. "We wanted to check for its survival and ability to move."
The LSU AgCenter has just started greenhouse studies to see if soybean rust is overwintering on stem tissue. "All the leaves were killed back by frost this winter, so it could be lower in the canopy," he says.
The study results could help Louisiana soybean growers adjust their agronomic practices to catch rust as early as possible. The preventive fungicide applications that the region’s growers have historically used for other diseases have proven successful against rust thus far. "Last year, growers added product to their fungicide application to control rust and actually controlled it very well," he says. "While it was widespread, we didn’t get the explosion that would have happened without the applications."
According to Hollier, soybean yield loss in the areas where rust occurred was around 1%. "Without the preventative fungicide applications, it probably would have been in the 7% to 8% range," he says.
Amy Fahnestock, Jun 05 2007, 22:19Kentucky Gets Its First Rust - Yoo Hoo!When I called Don Hershman, University of Kentucky Extension plant pathologist and one of my key Asian soybean rust contacts, about this week’s confirmation of the disease in his state, I joked that maybe I should be saying "Congratulations."
Hershman — also the Southern Region coordinator for the North Central Soybean Research Project — assured me that I was right on the mark. He admitted yelling "Yoo hoo!" when one of his technicians called to say they’d found Asian soybean rust in a soybean field in the southwest corner of the state.
"We’d been looking for it all summer and I just got all excited," he says. "I got a big smile on my face. It’s like the proverbial ugly stepchild; you still have to celebrate that it’s a child."
You have to pardon Hershman, but this was the first-ever confirmation of the disease in Kentucky. While researchers in the South have had plenty of opportunities to observe and study the disease first-hand, others like Hershman have had to travel to get a close look. Some plant pathologists have told me during the past two seasons that they just want to get the first sighting out of the way so their growers can see that the disease is manageable.
At this writing, rust has been confirmed in eight counties in Kentucky. The first confirmation of Asian soybean rust was just announced for Illinois, and there are numerous daily additions of confirmations in states like Louisiana and Alabama.
Hershman will be driving around the affected areas and checking fields throughout the state for the next couple of weeks. "We’re still getting samples from these areas," he says. "We will keep scouting in the counties where they haven’t found it. We’ll have rust now until the first hard freeze. It simply cannot survive this far north." Weather predictions note that the first hard freeze may occur as soon as the end of this week. (I just received a note from Anne Dorrance, Extension plant pathologist at The Ohio State University, regarding the possibility of rust moving into her state: "With the frost last night (Oct. 12), there won’t be any rust finds in Ohio for the 2006 season. Our county agents searched high and low over the past week but all of the samples came back negative.")
Constant rain storms and flash floods are the likely soybean rust conduits into western Kentucky, Hershman says.
The state’s soybean crop is past the R6 stage and is in no danger of yield loss, he adds.
These finds are of great importance to the soybean rust predictive models, he says. University of Kentucky (UK) researchers are making a great effort to know the extent of infection before the frost hits or until there are no soybean leaves in which the rust can survive. The disease has not been seen in kudzu in Kentucky this year, according to a UK press release.
The press release went on to explain that the initial find, on Oct. 6, was in the corner of an otherwise mature sentinel plot located at the UK Research and Education Center in Princeton. Incidence was about 40 to 50 percent and severity around 10 percent. Then, between Oct. 8 and Oct. 10, rust was detected at various levels in the six additional counties. All of the finds, thus far, are in the lakes region of western Kentucky.
Per an e-mail notice sent late in the day on Oct. 13, Hershman says, "We added a new Kentucky county today with confirmed soybean rust: Fulton. Fulton County is in the extreme southwest corner of the state. This find was in a commercial field of doublecrop soybean that was mature except for a pocket of green plants along one edge of the field. We found soybean rust on two out of 50 leaves, and only one pustule per leaf after 12 hours incubation. Not a very extensive find, but a find nonetheless."
The finds were in "mobile plots" except for the Caldwell and Union County finds, which were in sentinel plots. Incidence and severity of the disease was generally low, according to the press release.
"For all finds, the stage of pustules was mostly uniform," says Hershman. "This suggests to me that a large number of spores blew in sometime over the past two weeks and cut a pretty large swath in west Kentucky. We are in the process of looking to the west and east to see if an even larger area of spore deposition and infection may have occurred."
"The bottom line is this: the soybean rust finds will not impact soybeans in Kentucky or the U.S. this year," Hershman says. "But, they will help us to refine soybean rust predictive models, which will help greatly with soybean rust management in future crops."
(In an e-mail message sent at 5:21 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 13, Don Hershman sent an update of the Asian soybean rust situation in Kentucky:)
"We ended up confirming soybean rust in three additional counties today, Oct. 13. A very low incidence and severity of soybean rust was found in a mostly mature commercial field in Fulton County this morning. Later today we confirmed more low levels (1 percent to 2 percent incidence and 5 percent severity) in a commercial field in Trigg County and a sentinel plot in Webster County. Both of those fields are at or very near maturity.
"We had a pretty hard frost out here last night, so I think we are just about finished sampling for 2006. I know we still have a few more samples coming in the mail and there are probably some locations that still have leaves that might get sampled. In any event, we are now up to 10 counties: Caldwell, Christian, Fulton, Hopkins, Lyon, Marshall, Todd, Trigg, Union, and Webster. All of these counties, except for Fulton, are clumped around the lakes area of west Kentucky. We have observed a few samples from central Kentucky and the Bluegrass area around Lexington and no soybean rust has been found to date."
Amy Fahnestock, Oct 13 2006, 21:40The Search For The Right FungicideBY AMY L. FAHNESTOCK
alfahnestock@meistermedia.com
When is the best time to apply a fungicide to soybeans if you suspect Asian soybean rust is coming your grower-customers’ way? How much product will remain active if you spray early? If you spray after soybean rust arrives, how effective are the curative qualities of each labeled fungicide?
These are certainly questions retailers and producers have been asking since Asian soybean rust first arrived on U.S. soil in late 2004. There are no definitive answers yet, which makes it tough when a grower-customer asks the bottom-line question: What is the best and cheapest fungicide to use if I get Asian soybean rust in my soybean fields?
The search for answers is the basis for a three-state research project, "Standardized Foliar Fungicide Test For Control Of Asian Soybean Rust." Project leader Melvin Newman, Extension plant pathologist at The University of Tennessee, is overseeing the cooperative effort. A member of the National Soybean Rust Committee, Newman also is the recipient of the American Phytopathological Society’s 2006 Southern Division Outstanding Plant Pathologist Award.
Last fall, the Southern Soybean Promotion Board directors approached Newman at the National Soybean Rust Symposium with grower check-off funding in hand. But here’s the rub: So far, Asian soybean rust had not reached Tennessee soybean sentinel plots or commercial fields, meaning Newman had the funding but not the appropriate field set-up. (As of this writing, Tennessee has still been unaffected by soybean rust this season, too.)
Newman decided to pull together researchers in points south who were already dealing with the actual disease: James Marois, University of Florida; Bob Kemerait, University of Georgia; and Ed Sikora, Auburn University in Alabama.
"To get the ball rolling, I looked for the states with last year’s most reliable rust infestations," Newman explains. "We just know they’re going to have rust, and have it early enough to check the efficacy of the fungicides."
The study — which focuses on optimizing fungicide timing and use — is independent of any bias from fungicide manufacturers. The group agreed on 13 to 14 requirements to ensure data consistency, including using a randomized complete block design when planting the fields and a core of 12 fungicide treatments.
The View From Georgia
Georgia’s Kemerait chose project sites in Attapulgus, Moultrie, and Tifton. He favors the randomized complete block design, in which the pattern of two 40-foot untreated/two treated rows are replicated six to seven times. "You really get a good amount of disease, so the untreated rows stand out," Kemerait says.
"He (Newman) told us, ’Do exactly what your growers need,’" Kemerait says. This allowed each state leader leeway in actual project implementation.
Rust arrived late this season, which Kemerait attributes to the dry weather. The Atapulgas and Moultrie sites "are my best ones, they’re full of rust. We expect to see yield differences in those," he adds.
The plots have been sprayed with a variety of triazoles, strobilurins, triazole/strobilurin combinations, and chlorothalonils. All Georgia trials are using Bayer CropScience’s Folicur (tebuconazole).
"The only labeled product we’re not using in Georgia is Tilt by itself," he says. "We’re using it as a component of Stratego and Quilt." Syngenta’s Tilt contains the active ingredient propiconazole and Quilt is a premix of Tilt and Quadrix, which contains azoxystrobin. Bayer CropSciences’ Stratego is a propiconazole + trifloxystrobin premix.
With harvest just around the corner, the results of the disease and yield ratings will be in soon. The study results will be announced at the National Soybean Rust Symposium 2006, to be held Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in St. Louis, MO. For more information or to register for the symposium, visit http://www.apsnet.org.
"This is primarily a timing experiment," says Kemerait. "When is it too early to spray and when is it too late?"
(Editor’s note: A condensed version of this article has been published in the October 2006 edition of CropLife® magazine, on page 11.)
Amy Fahnestock, Oct 13 2006, 21:38South Carolina Still In The Clear (Knock On Wood)John Mueller, Clemson University Extension soybean pathologist, tells CropLife magazine that while Asian soybean rust has not been found yet in South Carolina, growers should not become overconfident. "It was at this time last year that we found an itty bitty amount of soybean rust in the state," he says. "It was two weeks before we had a significant finding."
Mueller likens the situation to when a baseball pitcher is closing in on a no-hitter. "I’m not saying anything to my bench," he jokes.
In his regular Soybean Report, Mueller states:
"Last week 26 monitoring plots were sampled. These included plots in Aiken, Allendale, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Colleton, Darlington, Florence, Hampton, Horry, Lee, Newberry, and Orangeburg counties. A total of 10 commercial fields were also sampled in Aiken, Bamberg, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, Horry, and Lee counties. Kudzu samples were run from Aiken and Barnwell Counties. Most of our sentinel sites planted to maturity group 4 soybeans are now in or past the R-6 growth stage. We also sampled seven additional sites on the Edisto Research & Education Center.
"There were no rust spores reported from our spore traps last week. As you will recall, six weeks ago some ’rust’ spores were found in a trap at the Edisto Research & Education Center. No rust has been found in this field.
"We have found no Asian soybean rust in South Carolina this year infecting either kudzu or soybeans.
"Last week rust was found at a very low level in one field in Tift County, GA. This find is closer to South Carolina than the previous finds in Georgia which were near the Florida border. However, it is still a significant distance away from the South Carolina border.
"Rust has now been found on soybeans in nine counties in a total of five states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Including finds of rust on kudzu increases the count to 29 counties in six states with Texas as the additional state.
"We still have not found rust on soybeans or kudzu in South Carolina. The rust in Georgia is a long distance from South Carolina. Last year it took more than three weeks to move from the Tifton area to South Carolina. The recent thunderstorms have brought much-needed rain to many areas of South Carolina and increased the risk of rust. The relatively cooler temperatures projected for the next week will also increase the risk of rust. However, rust inoculum seems to be the missing factor. Therefore, until rust is detected in South Carolina or observed closer to South Carolina in Georgia, we still are not recommending spraying fungicides for rust in South Carolina."
Amy Fahnestock, Aug 14 2006, 18:23Surgery Time-Out Coincides Nicely With Soybean Rust News PaceWhile I was at home recovering from knee surgery, Asian soybean rust activity was pretty slow. I didn’t see any reports of confirmations during that time. No sooner do I get back in the office again than rust begins popping up in Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia fields, bringing the total number of rust findings in soybeans this season to six different counties in four states. Guess that means — at least from an editor’s perspective — that I timed the surgery just right!
The latest news comes from central Louisiana, where soybean rust was confirmed yesterday (Wednesday, July 26). Clayton Hollier, Louisiana State University Extension plant pathologist, sent out this report:
"This morning it was confirmed that Asian soybean rust was found on Group V soybeans in Rapides Parish (LA). The find was on leaves taken from the sentinel plot at the Dean Lee Station. Several sporulating pustules were found on 75% of the leaves taken from that plot. This is the first confirmation of Asian soybean rust on soybeans in Louisiana during the 2006 season.
"The recommendation is for soybeans in the R1 through R5 growth stages and have a good yield potential be treated with a rust fungicide. The fungicides for rust control have a triazole alone or in combination with a strobilurin. These products are listed in the 2006 Plant Disease Management Guide and are on the LSU AgCenter Rust Web site, www.lsuagcenter.com/soybeanrust."
Don Hershmann, University of Kentucky Extension plant pathologist, says that "considering that the incidence of soybean rust in the plot was 75%, this is a significant find. It suggests to me that we could soon see an upturn in soybean rust findings in the lower Midsouth in areas that have had disease-favorable weather recently."
Hershman goes on to make another point: "Conditions have been very dry in much of Mississippi and Arkansas and portions of Louisiana. Thus, not all sections of the lower Midsouth have been favorable for soybean rust."
Florida: Rust On The Move
A day earlier, on July 25, soybean rust was confirmed in Gadsden County in north central Florida. This did not come as a complete surprise, according to Hershman. "As I indicated in past e-mails, all signs suggested that we were about to see a rapid upturn in soybean rust findings in Florida. This report is confirmation that soybean rust is now on the move in FL soybeans. I expect we will see a similar upturn in soybean rust in southern Georgia soon."
The soybean rust-positive sample was taken from three sentinel plots on July 21, according to Jim Marois, University of Florida Extension plant pathologist. "The county has had infected kudzu, and it appears that recent rains have begun to spread the disease," he says. "Each of the plots was planted to MGIII, MGV, and MGVII soybeans and is now at growth stage R6, R5, and R3 respectively. In two of the plots, one sporulating rust pustule was observed in a 100-leaf sample from the MGIII variety; in the third plot two leaves from the MGVII variety were heavily infected.
"Most of the Florida panhandle has had one or more rain events since these samples were taken and it looks like rain again today (July 25)," Marois says. "No other sentinel plots in the panhandle are known positive at this time. These are the first positive soybean sentinel plots in north Florida. Last year they became positive the week of Aug. 10. With the recent rains, the positive kudzu sites around the state are beginning to develop disease rapidly with abundant sporulation; however, no new positive kudzu sites have been found recently.
"We have returned to a more normal rainfall pattern, with most days having rain somewhere in the region, although often it is still very local," adds Marois. "Still, in the panhandle we are about 50% below normal rainfall for the year. Humidity is high and dew is present, so infections and sporulation is ongoing in infected plots."
Marois sums up the situation for Florida soybeans, most of which are at late vegetative or early reproductive stages: "As most counties are still negative, risk of rust to soybean growers in Florida is still minimal at this time. However, growers should re-evaluate the situation frequently."
Florida has established a rust hotline: 888-361-9942.
Georgia: Three Strikes In One County
And in Georiga, a third finding of soybean rust was confirmed in Brooks County on July 20. Brooks County is located in south central Georgia on the Florida border.
According to Layla Sconyers, University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist, "soybean and kudzu sentinel and non-sentinel sites continue to be monitored for soybean rust.
"The soybean sample was collected from a soybean field grown for an industry product trial, and rust was confirmed with a microscope," Sconyers says. "Ten or so leaves were examined and all 10 leaves were infected with sporulating soybean rust pustules.
"Georgia has been getting some scattered rain showers over the last couple of weeks, resulting in slightly cooler temps, and we are starting to detect more soybean rust, perhaps due to the recent rainfall," adds Sconyers. "Soybean rust had already been confirmed in the same county on kudzu at two different locations, so this find was not a surprise.
"Most of our soybean sentinel plots (MG-IV and MG-VI) are now at the R6+ growth stage as of July 24. Commercial soybeans in our state range from about R1 to R5 stages."
Bob Kemerait, University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist, makes the following recommendations to soybean growers in his state:
"The find of soybean rust in our sentinel plots in Attapulgus from a sample collected on July 3 (and Brooks County sites) further confirms the need for growers in the southwest (and south central) portion of Georgia to protect their crop as it enters bloom stages using effective fungicides," he says. "The key to successfully controlling rust, in our opinion, requires early treatment with an effective fungicide. If you suspect that rust may already be in your field, we would encourage you to use a fungicide that has curative properties. If rust has likely not infected your crop, use of labeled protectant or curative fungicides should suffice.
"Growers outside of this region of Georgia should follow sentinel plot reports carefully from the Cooperative Extension and be prepared to spray once the crop enters bloom stage and rust is likely to move to your area," he adds.
Quick Check On Other State Commentaries
So, what are other states telling their soybean growers in terms of scouting and management?
Indiana (Purdue University, July 26): "The few infections center in the Deep South (Alabama, Florida, and Georgia), hundreds of miles from Indiana, post no immediate threat to soybeans in Indiana. There is no reason for Indiana growers to treat fields for rust control at this time."
Kentucky (Hershman, July 25): "As important as these findings are to the big picture, they do not change anything for the short term in Kentucky. Our risk continues to be very low and there is no reason to implement any soybean rust control tactic at this time." (See "Soybean Rust Not A Factor In Kentucky Fields" in our News section for more details.)
Ohio (Anne Dorrance, Extension plant pathologist, The Ohio State University, July 22): "Growth stages reported were mostly in the R3. Rain continues to be an issue and more reports of flooding injury in several areas of the state. Must of our crop in Ohio is entering the reproductive phase and the levels of inoculum in the South are too low at this point for rust to be a concern for Ohio producers during the 2006 production season. During the reproductive stages, producers should monitor the USDA Web site to learn how rust in developing in the South. This has been an odd weather year; we should still monitor the movement of rust as it expands this year to learn what may happen in the future."
Oklahoma (John Damicone, Extension plant pathologist, Oklahoma State University, July 26): "As of July 26, soybean rust has not been detected in Oklahoma. The risk of rust development in Oklahoma remains low because of the hot weather and lack of any detectable rust in neighboring states. April-planted MGIII varieties are no longer at risk from soybean rust as they have mostly reached R6. Intensive scouting of soybeans is not currently needed. Fungicides will not be recommended until rust is found in the state or nearby, and conditions appear favorable for its development."
South Carolina (John Mueller, Extension soybean pathologist, Clemson University): "We have found no Asian soybean rust in South Carolina this year infecting either kudzu or soybeans. The rust in Georgia is a long distance from South Carolina. Last year it took four to six weeks to move from the Attapulgus area to South Carolina. Therefore, we still are not recommending spraying fungicides for rust."
West Virginia (Craig Trippett, plant pathologist, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, July 25): "Soybeans are now entering their reproductive stages. Pay close attention to low-lying areas where humidity builds within the canopy. Also scout areas that are susceptible to prolonged wet conditions. Check lower to mid canopies for any possible rust signs."
Amy Fahnestock, Jul 27 2006, 18:15Coming In July!Field shots of Asian soybean rust treatments and Dr. Alan Blaine in Argentina are part of our coverage in the July issue of CropLife® magazine.
Amy Fahnestock, Jun 20 2006, 20:52Don’t Cry For Rust, ArgentinaOK, the hokey headline pun aside, Midwestern U.S. soybean growers should take a very serious look at Argentina’s Asian soybean rust situation. The Argentinian climate and growing season is much more comparative to the Midwest than the competitive Brazil, which has captured the most press and research efforts up to this point.
That’s the main take-away a group of Dow AgroSciences LLC researchers and Midwest customers, along with a few Extension personnel, noted after a trip to Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil this past winter.
The group visited soybean growers in Rosario, which borders Rio Paraná (the Paraná River) and is situated about two and a half hours north of Buenos Aires. They then crossed the river into rural Victoria, located in the state of Entre Rios. Entre Rios borders Uraguary, which then borders Brazil.
Short Recap
Argentinian growers employ a wheat/soybean rotation, with wheat as the major crop. They use a wide variety of maturity groups, ranging from 2 to 8, in their soybean planting. Like U.S. growers, they have a definite single growing season each year, whereas in many areas of Brazil, the year-round crop provides a constant threat of soybean rust inoculum.
"It resembled central and northern Illinois or central and northern Iowa a lot," recalls Dave Ruen, Dow AgroSciences’ product technology specialist. "When we were in Victoria, what struck me was how it reminded me of northern Illinois’ rolling land areas with small bits of woodlots or weeds here and there. And you’d see small pasture lots and then you’d come out of a river valley. The Piraná River is huge like the Mississippi, with lots of grain exports going down the river. It was just like coming out of the Mississippi River Valley, kind of a broad valley and going up a small slope and then getting up on top of some rolling area over by Macomb, IL, and going towards Galesburg.
"So it very much had a Midwestern feel to it, even temperature-wise," he adds. "We were there in late March, and it kind of reminded me of late August, early September in Illinois, to tell the truth. Temperatures were in the 80s, and the nighttime temperatures were probably upper 60s, low 70s."
Dr. Alan Blaine, Mississippi State University Extension plant pathologist, offers a simple comparison. "If you took the U.S., folded it at the Equator, and laid it on top of Argentina, as you go south in Argentina, that’s going to be more like our Midwest. Northern Argentina, as you move up into the tropical climate or towards Bolivia to the north, that’ll be more like our Deep South."
Much like the Midwestern growers in the U.S. keep tabs on rust activity in the South, the Argentinian growers use wind and spore patterns from Brazil to determine when to begin scouting their own fields for the disease.
And like many growers in the U.S. South, many Argentinian growers have begun planting earlier maturity varieties.
(Editor’s note: More details to follow, so check back with www.rustready.com soon.)
Amy Fahnestock, Jun 09 2006, 14:43Texas HoldingTom Isakeit, Extension plant pathologist, Texas A&M University, has been busy surveying for Asian soybean rust in his state, but took a moment on April 13 to give us an update.
"The short message is: There’s nothing going on here," he says. "There was rust and now it seems to be gone.
"I don’t know when we’ll see it. It’s been awfully dry in south Texas where rust was confirmed back in February. That particular little spot is gone. It’s not spread to any of the soybean sentinel plots that are very close and it’s not spread to any commercial soybean fields nearby or onto the green beans or cowpea fields that were somewhat further away. We’re not seeing anything down there.
"We’re also not seeing anything in the sentinel plots further to the north nor any rust in soybeans in the commercial crop that’s starting out in the southernmost major production area in the state (between Victoria and Houston)," he adds.
Amy Fahnestock, Apr 14 2006, 14:36Ohio Field Day: Lots Of Rust QuestionsMore than 130 farmers gathered at Ruff’s Seed Farm in Amanda, OH, last week to learn more about scouting and spraying for Asian soybean rust, soybean aphids, and corn replanting. Wagon rides to various sites on the farm and barbecue pork sandwiches were all part of the South Central Ohio Soybean Rust and Field Crops Pest Management Field Meeting.
After all, reading about scouting, nozzles, and fungicide choices, and seeing photos of rust in print doesn’t quite cut it. There’s just nothing like being there at a field day, mixing it up with growers and Extension experts, even for someone who’s been talking to and writing for retailers the past 15 years.
Speakers included Anne Dorrance, plant pathologist at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, part of The Ohio State University. Many consider Anne to be one of the top authorities on Asian soybean rust. One thing’s for sure: she does a great job of delivering some pretty technical information at this layman’s comprehension level, and takes each question very seriously. Erdal Ozkan, who must know everything possible about spray drift, was there to unclutter some of the confusion about nozzles. Erdal’s always good for a fun demo, and this time he brought along a RoGator so everyone could get a good look at the various nozzles in action.
Click here for photos
Amy Fahnestock, Jul 20 2005, 19:36Gray’s AnalysisI had a great chat April 6 with Jim Gray of Ohigro Inc.'s Delaware, OH, location, just northeast of Columbus. After the spraying's done on the corn, he expects to do a lot more scouting this season.
According to Jim, some growers in the area hope to plant their soybeans as early as the middle of this month – IF the ground is thawed enough. They’re hoping to get the beans in early so the plants are more mature and less susceptible if rust should strike Ohio during the season. Normally, a few growers might get their beans in at the end of the month.
And what about fertility? Did Ohigro customers skimp on fertilizer? Jim said a fair number made some minor cutbacks and reduced the pain of higher fertilizer costs rather creatively. "There was no fertilizer buildup this year for quite a few of our growers," he said. Instead, they paid close attention to the fertility loss removed by the most recent crop and just replaced that.
Amy Fahnestock, Apr 06 2005, 17:08
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