An extension plant pathologist says some farmers are looking at fungicides for cost savings.
Alison Robertson with Iowa State University tells Brownfield corn growers are concerned about input costs.
“And I saw that there’s a lot of interest in generic fungicides. I think generic fungicides would be okay in low disease pressure.”
But she tells Brownfield if disease pressure is heavy, farmers would be better off with a name brand fungicide.
“In fact, I would even go further and say turn to resistant hybrids, because you’re not paying any increased input cost for disease resistance. So start there, and you can probably get away with not spraying a fungicide.”
Robertson says the best time to apply a fungicide to reduce disease is at silking.
