A yield-robbing corn disease, tar spot, is gaining ground in Missouri.
Tar spot has been confirmed in 19 counties in 2024, says University of Missouri Extension plant pathologist Mandy Bish. Corn growers in nearly half of the state’s counties have reported tar spot since Missouri’s first confirmed case in 2018.
The counties with confirmed cases this year are Scotland, Schuyler, Marion, Lewis, Pike, Lincoln, Monroe, Saline, Carroll, St. Charles, Lafayette, Boone, Nodaway, Gentry, Chariton, Andrew, Platte, Audrain and Howard, according to Corn ipmPIPE, a website that tracks corn diseases. MU Extension is one of the institutions contributing to the website.
Tar spot has been present at low levels and restricted to the lower corn canopy in most of the confirmed cases of 2024, says Bish.