On January 9th and January 21st, winter canola samples from West Tennessee were confirmed to have white mold (Sclerotinia stem rot). These confirmations are a useful reminder that, as we warm up this spring, it is important to scout fields for this disease, especially leading up to bloom to determine the need for fungicide application.
White mold is caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a fungal pathogen with a wide host range that can survive for years in soil and crop residue using one of its most identifiable features, sclerotia (hard, black structures on the stem surface – see Image 1). In canola, decisions occur around flowering, where fungal diseases can have the biggest impact on yield.
In this post, I’ll provide data supporting what I have penciled to be an ~860 lb per acre average lint yield for Tennessee. I’ll also provide a little background on how the USDA NASS numbers are generated and what we can do to make sure these estimates are improved when data is being collected by USDA NASS.