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ECIL | Ron..NE ILL..10/48 - 7/7/2024 07:03
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.
If I had a high clearance machine yes I would probably spray generic quilt on most of my corn because I can get it for $45/gallon. 10.5 oz rate is $3.70, 14.4 oz rate is $5. Insecticide $1. I am probably spraying my bayer corn this year even because in 21 tar spot and other diseases were much worse on this particular hybrid in comparison to other hybrids, it also shows more disease currently than the other hybrids I have scouted, it is all planted about 5-10 miles south of our other fields as well where we have gotten a little more rain. This bayer # was panted 3 weeks after the majority of my other corn hybrids and my thinking is late disease could impact it much more as it is not as far along. I don't know if it will pay or not but I will leave a strip or two to find out. I'm stuck paying retail pricing if I do corn fungicide I can hire a ground rig for $10, or a helicopter for $10, and pay 3x more than I can source fungicides for myself.
I won't disagree with you that is why I said I take somewhat of an IPM approach. Somewhat of a farmer approach as well. My thinking on soybeans isn't as "scientific" and is more ROI based I guess. Last year we had very little disease in beans but I also think I wasted my money on beans last year. This year as of now the beans are pretty darn clean, but Japanese beetles are bad and rain is in the forecast so I will spray. With the exception of last year I have seen a consistent return on our soybeans every year. Maybe it's more the insecticide than fungicide?
I'm a fan of fungicides when there is disease, if there isn't disease, your hybrids have good disease ratings, and the forecast doesn't support disease growth I don't see what the product is going to do. I guess on corn I feel like if I make it to tassel or even brown silk and there is very little disease and it's all down low in the plant I will HOPEFULLY be safe to not spray assuming every day isn't rain in the coming forecast.
I just haven't seen the returns on corn in low disease pressure years and I have done a lot of trials the last two years.
As to standability, I don't see how it's going to help IF disease isn't compromising the plant in the first place. If it is then sure it will keep the plant more healthy which will make it less likely to go down. I'm not saying my way of thinking is correct, but I think it works good for our farm.
Edited by CentralILFarmer 7/7/2024 08:13
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Corn Fungicide
