CIL Farmer (no name)

Though your first paragraphs talk about ROI decisions and IPM, in your last 2 paragraphs you come down to a less scientific and more of a "I know what I see" farmer decision. All your statements seem valid.

I feel that what you see in validating bean spray also applies to corn. Let me ask, if you had a hi-clearance sprayer (you say Hagie, but there are alternatives) and you could spray corn fungicide/insecticide for $7.25/A less machine $$, would you? 2 bushel ROI? I realize if you have to hire either aerial or ground application, the margins may be very different. This is one of the reasons many say OK to spraying beans with fungicide/insecticide. They can do it with about any farm sprayer. Now it's OK.

Seems there's always a couple problems with corn fungicide/insecticide post application decision making. One is the uncertain results. You never know until it's over. Then, one can either pat himself on the back for not doing anything, or quietly not admit that maybe you "shoulda" this year....but no crying over spilled milk. Most often we read on AgTalk about the great successes of some farmer's decision making processes in finances and proper farming techniques. Not very often that we read where someone says they screwed up by not doing whatever.

Then, to me, there's the other big kicker on corn which is standability. I'm guessing everyone in the midwest has either picked or combined corn that was laying ankle high in November. After a few days of that, one tends to say "the heck with IPM....I don't ever want this again". I realize VT fungicide application doesn't guarantee perfect standing corn, but it helps. Same is true if you've had infestations of CRW. As you stand in the aftermath of bowed and down corn due to CRW, you tend to really question IPM.

And, as always, whatever your decisions, someone will call you wrong, though it's your farm.