No Tar Spot in Corn….. Yet
We have been getting plenty of questions about the status of Tar Spot in our area. Remember, it was identified late last year in two fields in Erie County. This week we met with Gary Bergstrom and the grower in Erie County at those exact field locations where it was found. The first was in soybean this year and the other was corn again. We searched corn plants in and around those fields and found no sign of tar spot …… yet. It has been dry there like most of the state. The inoculum is probably present but the weather conditions just are not conducive for the disease. However, we should be continuing to scout! In fact, other leaf diseases like gray leaf spot and Northern corn leaf blight have not shown themselves yet. Many of our corn fields are now at tassel and beginning to pollinate. Some growers are currently spraying fungicides over the top.
The weekly track of tar spot across the U.S. can be found on the Corn IMP PIPE website. From the map below you can see that there is not much tar spot activity around us yet. Nothing in Ohio or Ontario but it was identified in Lancaster, PA this week.
If you want to learn more details on the biology of tar spot, see the article in the August Ag Focus coming out next week.
