Don’t miss out on the opportunity to have your soil tested for parasitic nematodes and charcoal rot at no cost for Tennessee Farmers ($15 fee for out-of-state samples). Continue reading
Taproot decline (TRD) is a new disease to us in Tennessee and other states in the Southeast. A member of the genus (Xylaria) was first isolated from soybean in Ethiopia in the ‘70s , however researchers at that time did not confirm if this fungus was the pathogenic species that is now affecting soybeans across the southeastern US. The first report of taproot decline as a pathogen of soybean was published just last year, with sightings of this disease first occurring in 2007. Other states that have reported cases of TRD include Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri with an increasingly northern range. A production field in Saulsbury (Hardeman County) was confirmed to have soybeans affected by TRD in August 2017, and two additional research fields in Gibson and Madison counties were confirmed in August 2018. Foliar symptoms were initially spotted at growth stage R6 (i.e. full seed); these foliar symptoms can easily be confused with those due to other diseases like sudden death syndrome and stem canker, and closer observation is needed for disease Continue reading
With symptoms of disease showing up in soybean fields, Dr. Heather Kelly’s phone has been hot. In our latest Call of the Week podcast, Continue reading
Wondering what’s been making your soybeans sickly? Come to The University of Tennessee Soybean Disease Field Day, held Tuesday, Sept. 4th, at the Milan Research and Education Center. Registration will be from 8:30-9:00 AM with the tour beginning at 9 AM and concluding with a box lunch. Preregistration is not required. Pesticide re-certification and CCA points will be available. Field demonstrations will include soybean disease identification, UT variety trials, fungicide efficacy trials and other UT disease research trials. Hands on disease identification will cover main soybean diseases that occur in Tennessee including frogeye leaf spot, target spot, Cercospora leaf blight, southern stem canker, sudden death syndrome, and others.
Most soybeans have gotten into reproductive growth stages and diseases may have started appearing although at low levels. To better identify diseases and guide management decisions use the resources below… Continue reading
Visitors to the Milan No-Till Field Day can hear presentations on research involving corn, cotton and soybeans. Due to growing interest in cover crops, two tours (10 total presentations) will be devoted to that topic. New this year – a tour devoted to managing resistance, a tour on fragipans, and a producer-led panel discussing personal experiences with precision agriculture technology. Continue reading
2018 County Standardized Trials (CST) wheat harvest data are now available. Our county trial yields were consistent with yields in much of the state, down around 15 bu from what we had last year. Late planting due to excess moisture and a cool, wet spring with delayed fertilizer and insecticide applications, didn’t get this crop set up for record year. 
With no reports of southern rust in Tennessee or to the south, it is a relatively quiet disease season in corn, with the exception of grey leaf spot and physioderm brown spot in Tennessee corn. Continue reading