Why not to wait for brown silk!

Why not to wait for Brown Silk!

Since the launch of Headline and Plant Health in corn over 15 years agoi, there has been recommendations from folks who want you to wait till brown silk to spray fungicides. Typically they will tell you that they do not want to cause any stress to the corn plant during pollination. While their premise seems good on the outside, on the inside it lacks any real data to support "fungicide induced" stress in corn at pollination nor has there been any yield data that would justify waiting till brown silk. The interesting part, is that BASF is quite interested in reducing stress in the plant at pollination, so that is why we encourage you to spray at VT-R2. This is an extremely important time of production in the corn plants’ life and we want to minimize the stress in the corn plant by applying Headline Amp or Headline during that time. BASF Plant Health products have repeatedly demonstrated increased photosynthesis, reduced respiration, increased nitrogen utilization and reduced ethylene production, when applied to many crops. Why would you not want all those things working in your favor when the corn is going through such a crucial growth stage and is most susceptible to stress? Finally, brown silk is not a growth stage. Brown silk first occurs at the beginning of blister and continues till harvest. Since 2006 BASF has sprayed millions of acres of corn with Headline at VT with no issues, if there was any value in waiting don’t you think BASF would be the first ones to let you know?

Also, here are the timeless corn reproduction articles by Nielsen at Purdue. Great stuff on tassel and silk development as well as “preg-checking” your corn!

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/Tassels.html

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/Silks.html

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/EarShake.html