Over the past couple of weeks, Cornell Cooperative Extension Regional Field Crops specialists Mike Hunter and Kitty O’Neil have discovered numerous soybean fields that are affected by white mold (or Sclerotinia Stem Rot) throughout Northern NY.
White mold is usually not a major problem in in the North Country, however, this year seems to be an exception.
White mold infections are favored by cool, cloudy, wet and humid weather conditions at soybean flowering. This disease is more likely to be found in fields that have thick stands with high populations planted in narrow rows. It typically does not appear in small plants at low populations. It is no surprise that we are seeing higher levels of white mold in soybeans this year.
Read more about coping with white mold, August 2014
