Tar Spot is a rising corn disease threat across the Midwest. BASF Technical Service Representative Vince Davis says tar spot is hard to identify and effects aren’t seen until flowering. “It comes in the crop as a very inconspicuous black dot. Early on in the scouting process it can mimic fly poop so if you see it you want to try to wipe it. If it wipes off easily, it’s probably not tar spot.” Fungicides can help. “Our product at BASF shows a lot longer residual against not only tar spot but with other common fungicide diseases like grey leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight. etcetera.”
