Drought vs. Disease: How Weather is Impacting This Year’s Growing Season
Weather is always top-of-mind for growers, and this season is no exception. BW Fusion growers range across the country from regions facing Dust Bowl-like drought conditions to areas receiving high amounts of moisture.
Both of these scenarios, and all the variations in between, come with their own set of concerns and crop management considerations.
Mid/Southwest states face severe drought conditions
Growers in the upper panhandle of Texas, extending upwards through northwestern Oklahoma and concentrated in western Kansas and Nebraska are facing extreme drought conditions that are threatening the viability of the winter wheat crop. For many growers, dryland wheat is not in a condition to make harvesting the crop worthwhile.
With this in mind, growers in this region may consider implementing irrigation into their crop management practices, making a change in their crop rotation and utilizing supplemental crop nutrition.
BW Fusion can help provide crops the nutrition they need—and tools for efficient uptake and retention—as the soil may not be in a condition to provide enough nutrients itself.
CornWORX and SoyWORX are complete corn and soybean starters that build a strong foundation for healthy, resilient crops. Plus, CornWORX has a new sidekick specifically designed for improved nutrient uptake and moisture retention. BW-Synergy is the perfect product for this season.
Eastern Corn Belt trades rainfall for disease concerns
Moving eastward, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and beyond are experiencing more favorable weather conditions. Historically, this region is less troubled by drought, and this year is expected to continue to provide plenty of rainfall.
Unfortunately, the added moisture does come with a trade-off.
These warm, wet conditions create the perfect environment for disease to fester. Paired with the ongoing westward spread of tar spot disease, this could be troublesome for growers.
Common rust of corn, soybean rust and tar spot disease and more all thrive in damp, humid conditions, and once they infiltrate your fields, growers are limited in how to treat the disease and recover any yield losses.
Protecting crops against disease
Well-timed fungicide application after identifying any of these diseases in your field is your best chance at eradication, but BW Fusion’s biological crop nutrition products can help defend against disease before it hits your fields.
For your best proactive defense against disease, power up your plants with products like BW-SeaAmino, BW-Advance and BW-PiKSi Dust Plus. The microbes in these products strengthen your crops by providing added stress mitigation and disease resistance capabilities.
Applying BW-Meltdown after harvest this fall can also help create a clean slate for next year’s crop. As the microbes melt down crop residue, they also break down remnants of disease and prevent them from infecting the next crop to be planted in that field.
Whether you’re battling drought or disease this season, BW Fusion has complete crop nutrition programs to help you grow resilient crops and make the most of the conditions you are facing. Get in touch with an agronomist today.