With the continued wet and warm weather, it didn’t take long to identify Southern rust in some Madison county corn, and additional fields are being scouted this week.  With the current warm and wet conditions, other fields in the path of storms carrying rust spores may begin to show symptoms over the next week as well.   Scout young (pre-tassel) corn or corn that has recently pollinated for rust pustules.  If infection is easily found in the field, consider a fungicide if the hybrid is considered highly susceptible to Southern rust.  It is important to be on the early side of infection and not treat only after heavy disease has developed.  Dr. Kelly’s fungicide efficacy table can be found at utcrops.com/corn/diseases.  Most fungicides have a specific rain-fast period from 1 hour to 4 hours depending on the product and applications right before a rain should be avoided.  Dr. Kelly’s lab coordinator is Rachel Guyer at rguyer@utk.edu if bringing leaf samples to Jackson for confirmation.