Drought and stalk rot causing top dieback in Midwestern corn fields

Drought and stalk rot causing top dieback in Midwestern corn fields

A Midwest agronomist says he is seeing a fair amount of top dieback in corn this season.

Dana Harder with Burrus Seed tells Brownfield there are a couple of factors that could be causing corn to dry from the top down instead of the bottom up.

“If you see it broad throughout the field, chances are that’s due to drought stress. If it’s anthracnose stalk rot, those plants are going to be more randomly scattered throughout that field.”

He says within the Burrus footprint he’s seen the biggest impacts in eastern Missouri and west central Illinois.