Cover Crop Dos and Don’ts - Lessons Learned about Cover Crops, Corn Growth, Diseases and Pests

Dec 09, 2021

Iowa Learning Farms, in partnership with the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and Conservation Learning Group will present a virtual cover crop field day on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. CST. The event will feature live conversation with Alison Robertson, professor and extension field pathologist in agronomy at Iowa State University, and Mark Licht, assistant professor and extension cropping systems specialist in agronomy at Iowa State University.

The field day will explore the potential benefits and impacts of planting corn into a living winter cereal rye cover crop. While the field day will primarily focus on the Iowa trial, the research project has replicated sites located in 15 states across the country. Building on existing research trials, the team is examining different termination dates, both before and after the planting of corn, to determine the impact on diseases, weeds, and both pest and beneficial insects.

Participants in Iowa Learning Farms virtual field days are encouraged to ask questions of the presenters. People from all backgrounds and areas of interest are encouraged to join.

Virtual field day access instructions

Source : iastate.edu

Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.