Weather is always a concern, and this year it has set up Nebraska and surrounding states for a lot of cropping challenges.

Syngenta agronomist Travis Gustafson says that being too wet or too dry is normal for Nebraska. “Overall, the wetter spring we had has helped us out,” he says. “It feels like our crop condition now wouldn’t look as good as it does if we hadn’t had those rains right after planting.”

But walking local fields, Gustafson knows that the current conditions also have set the state up for disease pressure. “The moisture we received built up the subsoil profile,” he says. “We haven’t used as much irrigation, and the corn has not been stressed, even now that it is drier.”

Different every year

Gustafson says that last season, there wasn’t much tar spot in his area of central Nebraska. “It showed up late in the state in the middle of September last year,” Gustafson says. “But once it is here, it stays here. It doesn’t have to blow in every year like Southern rust.”

Tar spot showed up earlier this season in the state, around tassel time in July. Southern rust shows up every year, especially with seasons that have more rain and more southerly wind, because that is how it is delivered.

“For Southern rust and tar spot, you have to treat preventively,” Gustafson says. “You can’t wait for it to show up in the field. Too many times after we find Southern rust, we think we can make an application and save the field, but it ends up disappointing us at harvest. It’s best to apply a good, long-term fungicide on the corn before the disease shows up. I’ve never heard anyone disappointed that they applied a fungicide before the disease shows up.”

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Gustafson says producers only must look at a map. Southern rust is in Kansas and in most of the eastern half of Nebraska all the way up to Cedar County in the northeast. “We have a lot of the growing season left,” he says, “so all of Nebraska can be impacted.”

Recent hail and wind events have opened corn up to bacterial diseases, as well, like Goss’s wilt and leaf streak, for instance. “Bacterial leaf streak is enhanced by hail injury,” Gustafson says, “but fungicide can’t control these bacterial diseases. They can only help the plant respond to hail stress, and if a bacterial disease is present, they can help the plant power through it.”

How about soybeans?

“Last year we had problems with white mold in soybeans,” Gustafson say. “It was so dry, so we probably started irrigating on Memorial Day, and that created great conditions for white mold.” That said, more producers have been proactive and treated for white mold in June.

For corn and soybeans, Gustafson says, one of the main pests of concern is Japanese beetle. Populations have been expanding north and south of Interstate 80 in Nebraska all the way north to the border, and this expansion has been going on for four or five years. This expansion, Gustafson says, is not weather related but a natural progression. “Producers have been spraying beetles at the same time they were applying fungicide in order to stay ahead of them,” he says.

Working on weeds

The extended and wet planting time has provided a haven for weed development in late-planted crops, Gustafson says. “We spread out a lot of planting and field operations, and that has opened us up to weed problems. The moisture we’ve had has helped herbicides to work, but where there are weed issues, there will be lots more weeds going into the weed seed bank.”

He says residual herbicides have been proven to work on troublesome weed issues year in and year out. “Rely on long-lasting preemergence herbicides in problem fields,” he says.

“We will probably see cropping challenges next year because of weather this year,” he adds. “But overall, there is an opportunity for an amazing crop in Nebraska this season — maybe one of the best crops out there. When commodity prices are low, it is hard to spend the money on fungicides, for instance, but you want a good crop and to get every bushel you can.”