As summer heats up and parts of North Dakota receive excessive rainfall, the disease risk increases. However, NDSU Extension Plant Pathologist Andrew Friskop said this growing season has gone better than expected. “Right now, as far as the small grain diseases, we’ve actually been in a pretty good year with keeping diseases on the leaves at low levels.” Scab remains a concern in some areas. “Our greatest areas of scab risk have been in southeast North Dakota, extending a little bit into the southwest. Another pocket that’s starting to form is in northeast North Dakota.”
