Goss's Wilt?

The aerial pictures from my friend Paul near Macon, Illinois got a lot of people thinking. Just how bad is this crop? Is it Goss's Wilt or something more?

Early harvest reports in Illinois are not good, 100-120 bushels per acre where they expect closer to 200 bushels.

Two other friends Jeff and Keith took their own crop tour from Iowa across Illinois through Indiana into Ohio then turned north into northwest Ohio and Michigan. They cut below the lake and looked at southern Wisconsin and Minnesota before returning home.

Their opinion is this crop is worse than the Pro Farmer tour reports and they pegged US corn production below 150 bushels. We were all working for a 160 bu plus crop when we planted.

The floods and record heat and drought have taken a toll and Goss's Wilt may even be worse. The bacterium has not been identified in Ohio according to Pierce Paul, Extension Pathologist but Keith and Jeff said they saw it in Ohio. We all admit there are more bacteriums out their and they could look like Goss's Wilt but be a little different.

Some friends think we will see a lot of planes flying next summer but they may not be applying fungicide, they may be foliar feeding the corn to help the plant outgrow the bacteria. Procidic or other acids may be part of the solution, we don't know yet.

This will be an interesting fall and winter trying to figure out "what happened?" and what our next step is.

I have been scouting every day and wondering if the wilts will damage our corn in Ohio or will Jack Frost or both? I doubt I could get anyone to spray a foliar with an ammonium form of nitrogen and citric acid on many acres but it really needs to be done. Ohio farmers are still wore out from planting three months ago and trying to maintain a crop with two months less growing time.

We have a whole lot to learn. The picture was taken yesterday. We have a long way to go and it is September.

Ed