Bob Mulrooney, Extension Plant Pathologist; bobmul@udel.edu
On August 13, soybean rust was reported in Suwannee County, Florida on kudzu. On August 12, soybean rust was reported in three additional Florida counties, Duval, Madison, and Washington. On August 11, soybean rust was reported on soybean in Tift County in Georgia. On August 10, soybean rust was found for the first time this year in Arkansas, in Chicot County on soybeans. On August 6, soybean rust was found in Holmes County, Mississippi in a commercial soybean field; this is a first find in the state this year.
As you can see soybean rust activity is increasing in the South. Most of the spore movement is going toward the Mississippi River Valley and not east. There has been some spraying for soybean diseases in the South other than rust but the rust that has appeared in commercial fields has come too late to affect yields for the most part. The season is still young and we have considerable acreage of late soybeans this year, so time will tell. Soybean rust monitoring in Delaware has begun and we will keep you up to date.
